The Past Will Always Come Back to Haunt You
by Aubrey212
Summary: A new member is introduced to the team and not even Mac knew she would come. But with the big case he has on his hands right now, she might just be the one person he needs to solve it. But what is her secret? A Flack/OC fic. Final chapter 18 now up!
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello everyone. This was just an idea I had this afternoon and I thought, I'd try it out. Be gentle with me, as I don't even quite know yet where this might be going. Just let me know whether you like the beginning and whether you would be interested in more. Any review is welcome, constructive criticism appreciated. Thanks a lot and now have fun reading and, hopefully, reviewing.**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I don't own anything related to the CBS show CSI:NY. I do however own my OC Amy Scott.**_

_**Summary:**__** The team is surprised when a new member joins. A member they had no idea was on her way. But with this big case on their hands, she might just be the one person they need to solve this case.**_

_**Pairings:**__** Flack/OC, Flack/Angell, DL, maybe a little Mac/Stella.**_

_**Setting:**__** Set after 5x23 (Greater Good). This means that Danny's and Lindsay's little girl is born and they are married. I will not let my story be influenced by any spoilers, so spoiler-free people should be safe to read this. **_

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_**1989.**_

_Mrs Jennings was stood in the kitchen, looking out of the window, impatiently waiting for her husband's car to turn round the corner. He was already ten minutes late and her roast was waiting to be eaten. She knew that Jim liked it when the roast was still tender and not as chewy as leather. She knew that Jim's favourite dish was roast and she wanted to surprise him. It was their 23__rd__ wedding anniversary. She was sure that he had forgotten, but it didn't matter to her. When she got married to him, she knew that he would be the kind of man who always forgot either his wife's birthday or their wedding anniversaries. She had been right the last 23 years and she didn't expect him to remember today of all days. But it didn't matter to her – she just loved her husband for making her so happy._

_She heard a car turning around the corner and shed a look outside the window, wanting to see whether it was Jim's car she had heard. Because it was already so dark outside, all she could see were the headlights coming in the direction of their house. She knew it was Jim and so she went and opened the oven, wanting to get the roast out. She bent down and at that moment, she heard the squeaking of car brakes and the crash-sound it made when a car hit a lamp post. Knowing that it had been her husband's car she had just seen in the street, she dropped the roast on the floor and ran outside._

_Just as she opened the door, she could see Jim getting out of the smoking car._

"_Are you alright?" Mrs Jennings wanted to know, running over to her husband, checking whether he was bleeding somewhere._

"_Never mind me," he said. "What about the little girl I almost ran over?"_

_Jim pointed onto the street and Mrs Jennings could see the little blonde-haired girl standing in the middle of the street, crying. She was wearing her pyjamas, her hair tousled as if she had just come out of bed. The little girl couldn't have been older than five._

_Mrs Jennings walked over to the little girl, still standing in the middle of street, crying and not moving. She was obviously in shock at almost being run over by a car._

"_Are you alright, my dear?" she wanted to know._

"_No, I'm not," said the little girl, the tone of her voice matter-of-factly._

"_Are you hurt? Where are your parents?"_

"_My parents are in our kitchen," said the little blonde, pointing towards a house down the road. Mrs Jennings knew that not that long ago, maybe a week or two, a couple with their daughter had moved into the house. She had seen the mother a couple of times, but she had always seemed so busy with moving and renovating the place that she hadn't yet bothered her with neighbourly chit-chat._

"_How about I get you back to your parents then?" Mrs Jennings offered. She looked back at her husband who was standing behind her, shrugging his shoulders, indicating that this little girl was as much of a mystery to him as she was to his wife. Mrs Jennings looked down at the little girl, prepared to take her hand and lead her back to her house. She wasn't prepared, however, for the answer the little girl was about to give – 3 little words that would haunt Mr and Mrs Jennings for the rest of their lives._

"_They are dead."_

* * *

_**20 years later – 2009.**_

The constant ringing of his cell phone woke him up. Detective Don Flack Jr. groaned and reached over to the side of the bed where his cell was lying on the ground. He didn't even have to take a look at who the caller might be – he instinctively knew that it was work. Hell, who else would be calling him at two, in the middle of the night?

"Flack," he answered the phone, his voice still coarse from having just woken up.

"Detective Flack, this is Amber from the precinct. I have a case here and there is no other detective available and Chief Sinclair said to call you and…"

"It's alright, Amber, don't sweat it. Just give me the address and tell me everything you know." Flack sat up in bed and grabbed the notepad that he always had lying on the nightstand next to the bed. He scribbled down the address he had to go to and also noted the few details that Amber could give him.

After having hung up, Flack got out of bed and rubbed his face. Somehow he knew that this was going to be a long night, followed by an even longer day.

* * *

Flack arrived at the crime scene, everything already illuminated with police cars standing right and left of the house. He saw Mac Taylor's black SUV and sighed. This man never went to bed. Flack assumed that Mac had been in the lab again when the call came in, that's why he was already here. Flack hated it to be the last at the scene, later than the CSIs.

"Mac," Flack shouted as he walked past the crime scene tape and into the house. Flack didn't even have to wait for an answer – he could already see Mac and Stella standing in the kitchen. They had their backs to him and he couldn't quite see what they were staring at, but after all those years as a detective, he had a pretty good idea what might be expecting him in that house.

The only detail he had about the case so far was that a couple had been found murdered in their own house, discovered in the kitchen by a friend. According to Amber, the friend said on the 911 call that his friends had been stabbed in their own kitchen. If this was the case, he knew that this was going to be a bloody and gruesome business.

Flack walked into the kitchen, greeting Mac and Stella, both, who immediately turned around to great the tall and dark-haired detective. They also made way for Flack to have a look at the bodies, a sight Flack wasn't quite prepared for in the early hours of the night.

Blood was everywhere, even on the kitchen cabinets. The victims were lying on their backs on the kitchen floor and Flack walked closer to have a better look. They both had not only been stabbed once, but several times. At first count, Flack already counted 13 stab wounds in the women's chest and he assumed that the man must have had twice as many.

"Somehow I'm thinking I can already guess the murderer's motif," Flack said, looking round t where Stella started processing the door lock.

"Rage?" she asked rhetorically, not really needing an answer to her question. She had been a crime scene investigator for so long now that she sometimes thought she could hear a murderer's thoughts even though he wasn't even arrested yet. Her first thought upon seeing those two young people slaughtered in their own house had been that this murderer was beyond brutal.

"Do we know who they are?" Flack wanted to know from Mac, who was leaning over the husband's body.

"Delia and Jack Parker. Only moved here a couple of weeks ago." Mac pointed to the dining table, which was set ready for a dinner. "Were probably minding their own business, having dinner together in their new house. They had no idea how this night would turn out for them." Mac sighed, trying to count the stab wounds the male victim had in his chest. "I counted 23 so far and I bet Sid's going to find way more than just the ones I can see with my bare eyes."

"No evidence of forced entry on the locks, neither the front door lock nor this backdoor one. I think it's safe to assume that the victims knew their killer, probably even invited him into their own house," Stella said, taking off her gloves. "I'm going to take a look at the rest of the house. Maybe I can find a broken window somewhere and that might give us _something_ other than the total evidence of zero we have so far. Wish me luck," she said and left the room.

"No evidence whatsoever?" Flack wanted to know from Mac.

"Nothing we could find. The fingerprints we did find are all from our victims, as is to be expected since this is their house. The blood needs to be tested back at the lab, but I got a feeling that it will all come back to those two," he said, pointing to the two victims. "I'm actually waiting for Sid to come round and collect the bodies. Maybe the autopsy will reveal a little more about our murderer," Mac added.

"You know, Mac, this is one of the cases I just _want _to solve," Flack said. "Obviously I want to solve any case I work, that's why I am a detective. But this one here? Whoever did this was so angry, he might just do it again. Different couple, but the same bloodshed. I want him behind bars." Flack looked down at the two victims, shaking his head. He felt Mac's hand on his shoulder.

"I know what you mean, Don, I know exactly what you mean."

* * *

Danny Messer stepped out of the elevator and entered the New York City crime lab. This had been his day off, but a call from Mac had woken him up from his dreams.

"Hey Mac, you called and here I am," Danny said as he ran into Mac in the hallway. "What do you need me to do?"

"First off, sorry I had to call you in on your day off. I know you and Lindsay would love to have some quality time with your baby. How is my little girl, by the way? Decided on a name yet?"

"As a matter of fact, we did – last night over dinner. But I'm not going to tell you now, I had to promise Lindsay. She'd love to be there when we tell her godfather," Danny replied, a little smirk on his face.

"I don't know whether I should feel flattered or afraid now," Mac said, smiling at Danny. Being this little girl's godfather had been such an honour for Mac that he still felt warm inside thinking of the day in the hospital two weeks ago when Lindsay and Danny asked him. His whole team of investigators was so much more than just his team, they were his family. And with this little and simple gift, Mac felt as if they acknowledged this and showed him that they felt exactly the same way about him. He was a father figure to Danny and Lindsay and the fact that they wanted him as the godfather felt enormously good and satisfying.

"I can't wait for the name, then," he said, smiling at Danny. "But now I'm afraid, we have to get to work. Sheldon's in the lab already, he will brief you on the case. I would do it myself, but Chief Sinclair just called me into his office. And don't ask me what he wants, I have as much of a clue as you do," he added, patting Danny paternally on the shoulder.

Danny turned around and walked in the direction of the lab.

* * *

Mac knocked on Chief Brigham Sinclair's door and awaited the sign to enter. When he was called inside, he opened the door, still unsure as to what might await him inside.

"Ah, Mac. Thanks for coming down as quickly as you did. Here is someone I'd like to introduce to you," Sinclair said, pointing to the young woman, who was standing in the other corner of the room. Mac hadn't even noticed her when entering the room.

She was obscured by the shadows in the corner and Mac couldn't really see anything apart from her being tall and slim, with long hair. She stepped out of the shadows and allowed Mac a closer look at herself. Her long hair was blonde and curly, her eyes blue. She wasn't smiling. Her eyes looked as if they had been through a lot lately.

"Mac, this is Detective Amy Scott. She is from London and she will be joining your team today," Sinclair announced to the dumbfounded Mac.

"Brigham, I don't think I quite understand what you're saying. I don't need a new investigator in my team," Mac said, looking at Sinclair, waiting for an explanation. Mac looked aside to the young English and apologetically said: "Nothing against you personally, sorry."

She shrugged it off with a sign of the hand and looked at Sinclair.

"Mac, _I _hired Detective Scott. She will be paid by the city. Papers are all already signed and in order. You will be her supervisor," Sinclair said, knowing that this was not enough explanation for Mac.

"Brigham, I'm going to need more than that, I'm afraid. My team really doesn't need a new investigator. We have everything under control."

"I know all that, Mac. But you would do me a personal favour if you would be less stubborn now and start working on that big case I know you have on your table," the Chief replied. With a wink Mac and the new detective were excused.

Mac nodded into Amy's direction and indicated for her to follow him. As he was already by the door, he turned around once more and told Sinclair: "This is not ever yet, Brigham. I'm going to get back at you. You know that you owe me a better explanation than just this."

With that Mac was out of the door, followed by the new detective Amy Scott. Mac had no idea what was going on here, but he was determined to find out.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thanks for the reviews and alerts. I'm happy you liked the beginning of the story, so here I come with the next chapter!**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I don't own anything related to the CBS show CSI:NY, I only own my OC Amy Scott.**_

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"So, are you going to tell me now what brings you here? Chief Sinclair wasn't really helpful with his cryptic clues, so somehow I'm thinking that I have to come to you for the answer I'm seeking," Mac said, turning to Amy, who was walking next to him.

She didn't answer, she just smiled at him. But it was not a welcoming and friendly smile, Mac had to admit. Her smile seemed to have a sly notion about it. Her whole aura seemed to imply that something secretive was surrounding this girl. Mac loved riddles, mysteries and secrets and he wanted to solve hers. As they arrived at the elevator that was to bring them up to the 35th floor of the building, where the New York City crime lab was situated, she pushed the button and turned towards Mac. She hadn't given him an answer to his question yet and she knew that she couldn't put it off any longer.

"As to your question what brings me here – let's say that Chief Sinclair owed me a favour," she cryptically replied.

"So that's all I'm going to get?" Mac wanted to know.

"For now, yes," Amy answered and walked into the elevator, pushing the button to the 35th floor.

* * *

While standing in the elevator with Mac, Amy wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up the image of the self-possessed and secretive young lady. There was a war fought deep inside her and she wasn't quite sure which side would be winning the battle – the one side that voted for the truth or the one that voted for keeping it all hidden and safe. Amy sighed.

Mac heard Amy's sigh and turned towards her. "Nervous?" he asked, raising his left eyebrow.

"Not at all," Amy answered, showing how self-composed she could really be. She had to admit to herself that she was indeed nervous to meet the New York team. They had no idea she was coming and in front of them, she had to play cool, just as she had to do with Detective Taylor. She didn't want anyone to find out the real reason she was here, not yet anyway. It might come to the point where she couldn't really hide it anymore, but for now she was just Amy Scott, 25 years old and from London, here because Sinclair owed her a favour. That this was not strictly true, she wouldn't tell them. It was enough that she knew.

The elevator doors slid open as they reached their destination and she looked aside to Detective Taylor. "Want to meet your new team?" he asked her. Amy nodded. She knew that he was suspicious of her and that he was determined to find out who she really was and what she was doing here. She knew that she had covered her tracks and that he wouldn't find anything that would point him in the right direction. But Amy also knew that Taylor was a fox. He was incredibly intelligent and she was sure that he wouldn't let go until he had all the answers he wanted. Amy silently prayed that her plan would work out. She wasn't so convinced of her own plan, seeing as she had to make it in the course of two hours and it was a completely spontaneous idea.

Mac led her along the hallway, allowing Amy to take a closer look at her surroundings. Every office or lab was walled in by glass, making it transparent to the outside. This lab and none of its members had anything to hide, they were comfortable with showing their work and lives to anyone who dared enter. Amy had to be careful in surroundings like this. Mac showed her to one of the conference rooms where four people were standing, bent over some folders.

Mac opened the door and everyone turned around to see who was entering the room. "Everyone, may I introduce Detective Amy Scott. She's from London and she will be joining the team today," Mac announced.

Amy saw the looks on all the faces and could see shock, bewilderment and confusion.

"Mac, why didn't you tell us beforehand that you hired someone new?' the curly-haired woman wanted to know. Amy had had a brief chance to talk to Sinclair about the team and she concluded that this must be Detective Stella Bonasera. Greek and Italian roots, Sinclair had mentioned – something Amy could see in the woman's eyes, face and hair. He had also mentioned something about a troubled childhood, but this was of no concern to Amy. She had no intention of getting attached to the team or to any of its individual members. She was here on a mission and would follow its course straight to the finish line.

"Stella, to be honest, I didn't even know about Detective Scott till…" Mac looked down on his watch and continued: "…fifteen minutes ago. This is Chief Sinclair's idea." Mac looked at Stella and she raised her eyebrows, obviously as confused as Mac himself.

One of the three men that had been in the room with Stella immediately approached Amy and took her hand to shake it. "Dr. Sheldon Hawkes. Nice to meet you, Amy. Can we call you Amy?" he asked.

Amy nodded and took a closer look at the coloured man standing in front of her. He smiled at her and tried to make her feel at ease in this more than awkward situation. She estimated that he was in his mid-thirties and she had to admit that the glasses he was wearing made him look incredibly smart. She, of course, had yet to find out whether he really was.

"Hi there," said the second guy. He had somewhat ginger hair and a beard. He seemed to be the archetype of the nutty professor, Amy thought. "I'm Adam Ross, the go-to guy in the lab. I generally take care of everything," he introduced himself.

Amy shook his hand and replied: "So you're the dogsbody here?"

Adam looked at her, puzzled and asked: "I am what exactly?"

"The lab's dogsbody," Amy answered. She then remembered that she was in America now and that Americans might have a problem with understanding British colloquial terms. She searched her own mental dictionary for the right word when the third man in the room came to her rescue.

"I think she means dog robber, buddy. Meaning you basically do anything you're asked to do," he said, addressing Adam. "Hi, I'm Danny Messer, nice to have you here, Miss Briton."

"I hope that won't become my new nickname," Amy answered, taking his ready hand to shake it.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Danny has a tendency to nickname you after where you come from. I'm only saying 'Montana'," Hawkes said, smiling and winking at Danny.

Amy wasn't even going to try to understand the inside jokes in this team as she wasn't prepared to stay long enough to get acquainted with all of them. She wanted to be out of here very quickly, she had a job to get back to.

"So, do you have one of those really cute little British accents?" Adam asked, smiling at her.

"I don't know, judge for yourself," Amy answered, trying to put as much of her London accent into the short phrase as possible. Adam nodded, smiled and seemed quite content with the answer he had gotten.

"Ok, back to work everyone," Mac said, turning around to leave the conference room. "The guys will tell you all you need to know about the case," he said to Amy. Turning to Stella, he asked: "Stella, a word?" He beckoned for Stella to follow him and she did so, leaving the room with one last smile to Amy.

Now Amy was left alone with the other three crime lab employees and she was eager to solve the case at hand.

* * *

"Ok, Mac, what is going on?" Stella wanted to know as she followed her supervisor and friend into his office.

"I really don't know, Stella. Sinclair just threw this at me without any proper explanation and he seems to think that this is alright. I know he's my boss, so I have to follow his orders, but he's mistaken when he thinks that I'm not going to get back at him for this." Mac sat down at his desk and turned towards his computer, eagerly starting to click and type.

"What are you doing now, Mac?" Stella wanted to know.

Without looking up at her, Mac answered: "Well, seeing as I have no references of this girl, have no idea who she is and what she is doing here, I'm doing the only thing I can do."

"And that would be?"

"I'm going to google her."

* * *

_Meanwhile in the conference room._

Danny was standing behind Amy, who had sat down next to Hawkes as he told her everything they knew so far. Danny didn't know what to think of this new girl, who had just come in here without any proper explanation. Even Mac had no idea what she was doing here and seeing as Danny only trusted Chief Sinclair as far as he could throw him, his gut feeling told him that something was up.

Amy was just holding the crime scene photos in her hand and listened attentively to what Hawkes said, when Danny's cell started ringing. He took a look at the caller ID and smiled.

"I'll be right back, my beautiful wife's calling," and with that he had already left the room. "Hello, sweetheart, why are you up at this untimely hour of the day?" Danny asked Lindsay, looking at his watch, which said that it was 5am.

"Our little girl couldn't sleep because her daddy left us," Lindsay answered.

Danny could imagine how Lindsay was sitting on the bed, a smile on her face, holding their little daughter in her arms. "Sorry I had to go, but this is a big case, and a cruel one on top. Mac really needs all the hands he could get, even if there are now more than there ever were," Danny answered.

"Alright, Mister Cryptic, do I have to know what you're talking about?"

"Chief Sinclair hired a new CSI, from London. Mac had no idea."

"Okay, go back. What? Why would he do that?"

"Mac himself has no idea." Danny shook his head as he was standing in the hallway, looking first back into the conference room and at Amy and after that he looked over to Mac's office where he could see Mac talking to Stella. "I don't know, Linds, something tells me that this is not right, that _she_ is not right. Something's up. Call me paranoid, but this whole thing stinks."

"I would never call you paranoid, you know that," Lindsay answered. "I trust your feelings, they have always been right. I actually quite like those gut feelings of yours."

"Yeah, do you?" Danny smiled.

"I do. They have brought you to Montana when I needed you the most," Lindsay answered, with so much warmth in her voice that Danny shivered. He still couldn't believe that this wonderful woman had agreed to marry him. Their wedding day had been the best of his life, closely followed by the day two weeks ago when their daughter had been born.

"You know, not all my gut feelings are right," Danny started.

"Oh, you mean the one about us getting a boy?" Lindsay teased. "True, with that one you have been far off. But back to the matters at hand, do you think Mac needs me to come in as well? I could call your mum to take the baby."

"I don't think you need to come in, but I will ask Mac and should he want you here, I'll give you a call. But you two should really try to get back to sleep now. I'll make sure to stop by later with chocolate cake."

"Oh, please don't," Lindsay groaned.

"But I thought you liked the chocolate cake from the shop round the corner of my old apartment?" Danny inquired.

"I did while I was pregnant. And I had so much of that stuff that I really can't eat another piece for the next _ten years_!" Lindsay answered and made Danny laugh.

"Alright, fine. Either way, I will stop by later. Now go back to sleep. Oh, and Lindsay? I love you, baby."

"I love you, too, Danny," Lindsay answered and hung up.

* * *

Mac and Stella met Danny in the hallway as they were on their way back into the conference room.

"Lindsay wants to know whether you need her hands with this case as well, Mac," Danny asked.

"That won't be necessary for now, Danny. I think we've got it all covered," Mac answered.

"I heard you two have finally decided on a name," Stella said to Danny.

"Yes, we have, but we want to tell you together, so you'll have to wait a little longer, I'm afraid," Danny teased.

The three of them came back into the conference room just as Hawkes and Adam were finished briefing Amy.

"So, Detective Scott, how about summing everything up for us? And after that I'm sure that Adam needs your help and expertise in the lab," Mac said, obviously testing Amy.

_His internet researches must have come up clean_, Amy thought, _now he tries to find out what I can by treating me like any other rookie on the job. He's trying to find my weaknesses, but I won't let him find any_, Amy swore to herself. So she just smiled at him, took a deep breath and started on the summary.

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**_Next chapter - Don and Amy will finally get to meet! So, stay tuned. :)_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Thank you for reviews and alerts. **__**I'm happy that you're still reading my story and aren't sick of it yet. I hope you like this new chapter and will review at the end of it. Any review is appreciated, constructive criticism always requested. So, don't be shy – let me know in a review what you think. Thanks so much.**_

_**Disclaimer: **__**I don't own anything related to CSI:NY, solely Amy Scott is mine.**_

_**In this chapter, Amy and Don are finally going to meet for the first time.**_

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_In the precinct._

At the same time as Mac was testing the newest and most mysterious member of his team, Detective Don Flack was sitting at his desk in front of the computer. He was so engrossed in what he was reading that he didn't notice Detective Jessica Angell, who was approaching his desk. She realized that Flack had no idea she was standing behind, so that she had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey you," Flack greeted her, turning sideways to where she was now sitting on the corner of his desk. "Hey are you this morning?" he wanted to know.

"I'm really good, just tired," she answered.

"Long night?"

Oh, the usual – some drug trafficking, some prostitutes that were in the wrong place. How about you?" Jess asked, smiling at Don.

"Big case, couple brutally slaughtered in their own kitchen. And as of now, no suspects, nothing," he replied.

"I heard about that case. I have to admit that I'm quite happy I didn't get that one. I heard the crime scene was a battlefield."

"Oh yes, it was. But this day holds even more curiosities. The crime lab has a new member, approved of by the Chief himself," he informed Jess. She wanted to know what he meant and urged him to continue. "Mac had no idea she was coming, Sinclair just surprised him with her. Mac just called to tell me. He wanted me to see whether she has a record."

"And, does she?" Jess asked, curious as to what the answer might be.

"She's no American citizen. She's from London and I have no access to the British database. Nothing on her in our database, so unfortunately, there was nothing I could give to Mac."

"Did he try the worldwide database?" Jess suggested.

"The what?" Don wondered.

"Google, my friend," Jess said, smirking.

Don had to laugh and assured her that Mac had even tried Google and had come up with nothing. "How about we go check her out? You can check up on your case and I'll come up with an excuse to stop by the lab," Jess proposed.

Don agreed, got up, took his suit jacket and left the precinct, with Jess in tow.

* * *

"The two victims are Delia and Jack Parker. At 1am a friend of theirs, Mark Jacobs, discovered them dead in their kitchen. His protocol says that he was on his way home from a party when he saw that there was light in the victims' kitchen. He says that his friends wanted to leave after dinner to go see Jack Parker's parents. He thought it was curious that the light was still on and he tried to call his friends. Got no answer and decided to have a look through the kitchen window. He went into the back garden and saw them through said window. He called 911 immediately afterwards. About 5 minutes later the first squad car arrived at the scene. Detective Taylor was called to the scene at around 1.45 am and Detective Flack was called only 10 minutes later," Amy started her summary of the case. She knew that the whole team was eyeing her, trying to make out whether she was good at her job or not.

"Did I hear my name?" asked a tall and dark-haired man, who had just come into the room. Amy took a closer look at him and at the woman behind him. He had black hair and piercing blue eyes, the most amazing eyes Amy had ever seen in real life. They twinkled in the light of the room and Amy felt as if she could see the blue sky mirrored in them. He was wearing a black suit and the most hideous polka-dot tie Amy had ever laid eyes on. He smiled at Mac and Amy had to admire the dimples on his cheeks. She needed a second to snap out of her observation mode. The woman behind him was beautiful, with long and flowing dark hair and a great figure. Without knowing either one of them, Amy thought that they would make a great couple.

"The new member of our team, Detective Scott here, was just starting to summarize the case at hand for all of us," Stella answered to Don.

"Good timing on our side then, eh?" Don said and sat down. Jess walked further into the room and stood behind Don. "Please, go on," Don urged Amy, observing her closely.

"Detectives Bonasera and Taylor processed the scene. There was no evidence of forced entry on the locks and no windows had been broken into. The victims were found on the kitchen floor, both stabbed to death. Dr. Sid Hammerback has not yet conducted the autopsy, but on first glance the male victim seemed to have around 25 stab wounds in the chest and the female around 15. Blood could be found everywhere in the kitchen and as of now, all the samples came back to both victims. Not all samples have been tested yet though. The only fingerprints found in the house belonged to the Parkers. So basically, there seems to be no evidence that might point us in the direction of the murderer," Amy concluded, looking from one to the next. She could see the frustration in everyone's eyes.

Amy herself felt frustrated. She had had no idea that their investigation had come out clean. She had thought that for the first time in the last 10 years she was going in the right direction. She had been led to New York, right into the arms of this team – as she heard, one of the best in the whole country. And here she was, now, just as ignorant and unknowing as she had been in the past 10 years. But Amy wouldn't let him get away this time. She would fight, and she wouldn't stop until she could visit him behind bars, thanking him for having destroyed her life.

* * *

After Detective Scott had been finished with her report, Mac had dismissed all of the other team members and had sent them to work. He was eager to catch the bad guy; he didn't want him to walk freely through New York City.

"So, what do you think?" Mac asked Don and Jess. "About her," he added, making it clear to them that he was referring to Amy.

"I don't know, Mac. She seems to know what she's talking about. It doesn't seem that she's a rookie, or an impostor at that. But then again, it's hard to judge after only five minutes. Do you have any idea as to what the Chief thought about flinging her at you like this?" Don inquired.

"I don't have the faintest clue. After I called you, I called his office. He's out and his secretary didn't tell me where he was. His cell phone is switched off. So, it looks as if I have to take her just like this for now," Mac said, inwardly groaning and outwardly sighing. As if it hadn't been enough to work a case where the murderer might get away with his deed, but now he also had to babysit a complete stranger.

Don looked at Amy as she walked after Adam into one of the labs on the opposite side. He saw how Adam handed her one of the lab coats. She was laughing at something Adam said and Don found himself attracted to her.

He couldn't describe what it was about her. Surely, she was very pretty with her curly, blonde hair and those blue eyes. They were so ambiguous – on the one hand they seemed to be so sad and hard, giving her an air of strength and rigidity. On the other hand, when you looked deeply into them, you could find such warmth as he had never before found in someone's eyes. While she had rattled down her report, he had taken the time to look into her eyes. He couldn't quite describe it, but he felt as if she was someone he could trust. She seemed to be a vulnerable sort of person, but independent and fierce at the same time.

And he had to admit, while watching her across the hallway, that she had a smoking hot body.

* * *

Amy was just processing one of the blood samples when her cell went off. She saw the caller ID and took a deep breath. She looked over to Adam, who was working on the other side of the table and excused herself for a moment. She walked out of the lab and tried to find a room in this building of glass where she might be alone and unnoticed. She saw a room labelled 'Locker Room'. She went inside and finally answered her phone.

"Hello?"

"Amy? Is that you?" the caller wanted to know.

"Yes, it's me Tom. What's up?"

"I heard you called in sick last night. Do you know how long you'll be sick for again? Our boss is really ticked off. I don't know for how long I can hold him back this time, Ames," her friend and colleague Tom told her.

Amy sighed and inhaled deeply. "Look, Tom, I got to do this. I'm really close this time and I just can't stop now. I would never forgive myself when I ran from this chance," she told him.

"I just hope you know what you're doing. See that you hurry up and swing your bony little ass back to London as quickly as you can. I'll see what I can do about the big one," Tom assured her.

"Thanks, Tom. Did I ever mention that I'm lucky to have you? Love you, you're the best," Amy said and because she thought she had heard something, she turned around, only to discover that Don was standing behind her. Amy didn't know for how long he had been standing there and how much of her conversation he had overheard. "Tom, gotta go," she said and hung up, smiling up at Don. "Hey there, Detective… Flack, right?" Amy asked, trying to hide the tremble in her voice.

"Detective Donald Flack Jr., Flack or Don for short," he said as he offered her his hand. She took it and shook it, surprising Don at how strong her handshake was. Her hands were so slender that you could see every single vein on the back of it. "It's so nice to meet you," he added because she showed no intention of starting a conversation with him. She still only looked up at him, still holding his hand in hers and Don had to admit that holding her hand felt good. He somehow felt so connected to this young and beautiful girl, he couldn't even explain why. She was a total stranger to him and a dubious one at that. She was still deep in thoughts, so Flack, reluctantly, let go of her hand and tried to snap her out of whatever day dream she was caught up in.

"So, how is New York treating you so far?" he asked.

"Good," she finally answered.

"Ever been to New York before?" Flack further inquired.

"Nope," Amy answered monosyllabically.

"Ever been to the States before?" Flack asked, trying to worm any kind of answer longer than one word out of her.

Amy hesitated with her answer. She knew what Flack was trying to do. "Detective, is this an interrogation?" she wanted to know. She looked at Don, who had started to smile. He apologized to her and assured her that he didn't want her to feel interrogated, that he just wanted to find out what kind of person she was. Amy inhaled and looked up at him. "Look, Mr Detective, I personally define myself over my work. So, you want to know me, work with me and solve this case with me. Afterwards, I promise, you'll know me," she said, walked past Flack and out of the room.

Don was left behind in the locker room. He sat down on one of the benches and reflected on the few meetings with Amy that he had had today. He couldn't quite say why, but there was something about her that fascinated him. He felt himself drawn towards her, in both a personal and a sexual way. At the same time he knew that this might, and probably would, mean trouble for him. And who the hell was Tom?


	4. Chapter 4

_**Thanks to everyone who took the time to review my last chapter, or any of the previous ones really. I'm always very happy about reviews because then I think that what I do/write here is appreciated. Any form of criticism is welcome any time. I'm not a professional writer and I'm 100% sure that there is always something I can improve. So please take your time to review this chapter. Thanks a lot in advance.**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I own nothing, but Amy Scott.**_

_**Enjoy, read & review.**_

* * *

Amy walked out of the locker room and straight into Hawkes.

"Hey, I'm on my way to Sid. Care to join me?" he asked.

Amy was quite willing to tag along, knowing that she had to the meet the coroner at some point and this was as good a time as any. "Let me just quickly get rid of this lab coat, alright?" Amy walked into the first lab she could find and put the coat on one of the hangers. Hawkes was waiting for her in front of the elevator and she just joined him as its doors opened.

"Ready to dive into the crime lab's underworld?" Hawkes wanted to know, smirking at her.

"Is it that bad down there?" Amy followed Hawkes into the elevator, the doors closing on them.

Hawkes pushed the button for the basement and the elevator started moving. "No, not really. I used to be a coroner myself before I became a CSI, you know," he informed her.

"Really? So, that's where the doctor title comes from. I was already wandering about that. May I ask a question?" Amy slowly asked.

"Sure, just shoot," Hawkes asserted her.

"Why? I mean, why become a CSI? I'm only asking because it just always fascinates me, why others chose this job. I mean, you obviously became a coroner for a reason and then you changed. Why?"

"I actually am a trained surgeon," Hawkes replied. Before going on, he took a second to notice that this probably was the first time today that Amy more or less seemed to warm up to anyone on the team. She had been really quiet all morning and had barely talked to anyone else and Hawkes felt privileged that she had chosen him for her first real conversation with one of the team.

He went on: "I couldn't deal with losing lives anymore. No matter how good a surgeon you are, there will always be people dying on your operation table." He looked over to Amy and she nodded at him, beckoning for him to go on. "I wanted to be standing over the bodies and find out who killed them, rather than being the one killing them. I know this sounds drastic and overly dramatic – I have never willingly killed anyone in my life. But when you are the surgeon and you have to tell the distraught family that there was nothing you could do to save this one life, you do feel in some way like you are responsible for their deaths."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened, revealing the New York City morgue. There was a constant bustle in the room they walked into. A lot of people were walking from one room into the next and Amy could see about three coroners at work in different rooms. Even here, all the walls were made of glass. Amy wasn't sure that she liked this. She would want her body to be respected, even if it was her dead body. Others being able to see you, lying there, naked and cut open, was not her idea of everlasting peace.

She looked over to Hawkes and smiled at him. He barely knew her and still, he readily opened up to her on this elevator ride. She admired him for that. He seemed so confident and sure of himself, so trustworthy and trusting to others. Amy realized that she immediately started to warm up to him, like him even. She knew that she didn't want to do that, that she swore herself not to get personally attached to anyone in this team, because then, lying to them would be even harder.

"But I haven't even answered your question yet," Hawkes said and snapped Amy out of her thoughts.

"What?" she asked, puzzled.

"You wanted to know why I became a CSI, not why I chose to be a coroner," he apologized.

"Oh, no, don't worry. I can see that one leads to the other and that you have to start from scratch. So, just go on," she encouraged him.

"After some years here in the morgue and after all that close work with the CSIs, I just started to admire their side of the job. They are actually the ones who catch the bad guys, you know?" he continued.

"I know what you mean, that's why I chose the job," Amy revealed. She immediately realized that she had admitted to a small personal detail about herself, something she had wanted to keep hidden. _I have to be more careful_, Amy told herself.

"Ah, there is the man we're looking for. Sid!" Hawkes shouted, pointing to an older man on the other side of the room. Hawkes walked over to him and Amy followed. The older man had grey hair, was skinny and wearing the coolest glasses Amy had ever seen – he could take them apart in the middle, between the two glasses, on the front side and not on the back as was normally the case.

Sid noticed that Amy stared at his glasses and laughed: "Why is it that the prettiest of all always notice the damn glasses before noticing me?"

Amy became aware that he was talking to her and smiled, full of shame and regret. "I'm so sorry, I feel so foolish. It's just that I have never seen glasses like that. Those are just…"

"…genius?" Sid finished the sentence up for her.

"Exactly what I thought. But sorry for not introducing me first. I'm Detective Amy Scott. It's nice to meet you, Dr. Hammerback."

"But please, make it Sid. Makes me feel a little younger," Sid replied and winked at Amy. "I guess you two are here about the Parkers, eh?" Sid put on his glasses again and turned around to where Amy could see two bodies lying on two stretchers. "The male victim, Jack Parker, was stabbed a total of 33 times in the chest. Talk about rage here. I have seen a lot in my time as a coroner, but 33? Whoever did this was out of his mind."

Amy looked down on Jack Parker. He probably didn't even know what hit him when he was first attacked by the man with the knife. Amy wished she could revive Jack and tell him that this attack was not directed at him personally. He was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

"And now on to Mrs Parker – I found 18 stab wounds on her," Sid went on, now standing to look down on the stretcher that held Mrs Delia Parker. "Apart from a little alcohol in both their bloodstreams, there was nothing else in their systems. And the police report said that they were apparently surprised over dinner, which would explain the minimal trace of alcohol – they probably had a little bit of wine."

"Anything else on them that might point us in the right direction?" Hawkes inquired.

"There was nothing on Mr Parker," Sid started, "Mrs Parker, however, had trace under her fingernails. I already sent a sample up to Adam in the lab, maybe he can get DNA. My theory is now that…"

Amy interrupted him: "…he was attacked first, out of the blue. His wife just wanted to come to his rescue, but she wasn't strong enough and her husband probably already dead. And just because she loved him so much, she wanted to save him. In the end though, she was killed as well," Amy said bitterly, trying hard to fight back the tears that were about to well up.

"Yes, that would have been my theory as well, Miss Scott," Sid confirmed.

"It's _Detective _Scott," Amy snapped and turned around, needing to leave the morgue as quickly as possible. She had never seen any of his other victims. She had only read about some. She had prepared herself for the sight every day in the past 20 years and she had thought that she was strong enough to take it. But she had overestimated herself and this hadn't been the first time she had thought that she was stronger than she actually was. It was about time that she finally got to know _herself_, before she got to know _him_.

* * *

Back in the morgue she left a dumbfounded Sid and a bewildered Hawkes, standing over the bodies.

"I didn't mean to hurt her…" Sid stammered.

"I don't think it's got anything to do with you, Sid," Hawkes started. "Ever since she joined the team this morning, we all know that something's rotten in the state of New York and all the rotten smell comes directly from this one _Detective _Scott."

* * *

Amy was standing in the elevator, with whom she had the luck that its doors were open just as she came to it. She was now repeatedly pressing the button for the Ground Floor. She needed to get outside for a bit, she needed to breathe in some fresh air after the smell of death in the morgue. She needed to get a clear head again before she could go back into the crime lab. Her emotions were about to take over and she knew that that was a dangerous thing to happen. Should she let herself be controlled by emotion, she knew she couldn't hide the truth any longer. But she had to. She knew that once the truth was known, she would be excluded from the case.

What she was doing here in New York, was a really risky business anyway. Should anyone discover who she really was, the whole investigation might be questioned and put in jeopardy. Amy knew she had to hide who she really was because she wanted to work this case. She wanted to be part of the team responsible for catching him. She had always wanted that, this had been her sole motivation for choosing the job as a crime scene investigator in the first place.

The elevator doors closed and shortly after, Amy found herself in the entrance hall of the crime lab building. She steered outside and as soon as she was in front of the big revolving door, she took a really deep breath. She knew she could lose her job. Not this one, but her _real _job back in London. She actually risked her whole future by being here. But she had to do it because she was convinced that as long as the man, who had destroyed her past, was still free, she wouldn't have a future anyway.

* * *

Just as Don walked out of the crime lab building, he saw Amy leaning against the wall of the adjoined property. She had her eyes closed and her hands in her hair. He knew this position – he always had it when he had to make a decision and a hard one on top.

"Anything I can help you with?" he offered.

Amy opened her eyes and stared at the blue-eyed detective in front of her. "You stalking me or something?" she asked. She pushed herself off the wall and was about to leave, when she was held back by Flack grabbing her arm.

"Look, little Brit, I know something's the matter with you and I'm going to find out what," he threatened.

"Nothing wrong with me, apart from the fact that I'm about to loose the life in my am!" she hissed at him, wriggling her arm free from his grab. "Listen, Mr I-Know-It-All, you know _nothing_. Nothing about me _or_ my life. And do you want a little advice? You better keep it at that, you might not like what you're gonna find," Amy said, emphasizing almost every word, making sure that Don was listening to her.

"You apparently don't know me because your little threat only gives me even more motivation to look into your affairs and I bet I won't come up empty-handed," Don assured her.

Amy took a step closer to Don and looked him directly in the face, their bodies almost touching. The passer-bys on the street would have heard the sparks flying if they had only taken the time to listen. But no-one really took notice of the two as New Yorkers were used to things happening around the 14th precinct. That's why no-one, not even the two people involved, registered the chemistry and sexual tension that was sizzling between Amy Scott and Don Flack, as those two were standing so close to each other on the sidewalk.

Amy looked up into Don's amazingly blue eyes, gave him her best and fiercest smile and said: "Game on, Detective."

* * *

_**As an endnote – I was asked to promote the **__**CSI:NY FanFiction Awards 2009**__**! Check them out in the forums or have a look at the following link.**_

_**Nominate and vote!**_

_**.net/s/5055483/1/CSI_NY_Fanfiction_Awards_2009**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Thanks to jordinajamaica for the review, thanks for reading, hun! In this following chapter, I make use of DNA results and I already have to say 'sorry' for not getting it right. I honestly have no idea what might be standing on such a piece of paper and so I just made it up. If anyone of you happens to be an expert, just let me know how it is done correctly and I will change it.**_

_**Now sit back, relax and enjoy the read. Reviews will always be welcome - how else would I know whether this story is any good?**_

_** Thanks.**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I own nothing, but Amy Scott.**_

_**

* * *

**_

Amy walked back into the building, completely shocked by her actions. How could she have let this smart detective challenge her like that? She was sure that he would leave no stone on this earth unturned to find out what she had to hide. Amy was afraid that he really might be as good as he claimed to be and that it might not take him that long to discover her secret. She knew that once the truth was known, she would no longer be a part of the investigation.

She walked towards the elevator and pushed the button. _What if I try to find some dirt on him, have him removed from this investigation, silence him somehow? _Amy knew that she started to be completely delusional and that the more she provoked him, the more determined he would get to find her out. Amy was at a loss. _My damn competitiveness – all it has ever done was get me into trouble_, she scolded herself. Even in school she had always been the most competitive child, always wanting to be better than others, simply because she couldn't stand seeing anyone else than herself on top. She hadn't had many friends – teachers had written in every report, every year, that they thought her 'socially awkward'. Simple – she lacked all social skills. When she was younger the other kids had hurt her with their behaviour – the teasing and the mobbing. The older she got, the less concerned she had been though. Making friends in life had never been her main goal, catching _him _had been. After school she knew that it would make little sense to go after him straight away – she needed a profound education to finally outsmart him at some point. That's when she had chosen to become a CSI – she wanted to be able to follow his every step.

Now that he had led her to New York she was closer to him than she had ever been before, she knew all that. But at the same time Amy had to admit to herself that she was scared that she might still not be able to put him behind bars. He was so boastful, calling himself so smart. All Amy wanted to do was stuff it in his big mouth.

* * *

Don walked along the street, on his way to his favourite diner for a decent coffee. He hated the one in the precinct because no matter who had made it, it just tasted absolutely horrible. He was looking forward to a decent cup, topped with cream and sugar poured in it. He would use the short time-out to come up with a decent plan – a plan to find out all there was one had to know about a certain English girl.

Don didn't know why, but had never felt as competitive in his life and he sure wanted to win this little battle. He knew that she was keeping something from the team, everyone in the team knew that. Don also knew that he had to be careful – when Sinclair himself had hired her, there must be some kind of connection between his Chief and the little Brit. He didn't want to step on the wrong toes and risk his own job.

Don entered the diner and was greeted by Stacey. She knew him because he stopped by almost every day. Without asking him what he wanted to have, she poured him a big mug of coffee and he sat down at the counter, smiling to himself. He just remembered an old friend of his who was now working for Scotland Yard in London. _Why not reconnect with an old friend of mine_, he plotted, just as his phone rang.

"Flack?" he answered.

"Don, it's me, Jess."

"Hey gorgeous, what's up?"

"What are you doing tonight?" Jess wanted to know.

"Nothing so far. Working, I guess. Why?"

"How does dinner sound to you? My place at eight?" she suggested.

"Sounds very good. Should I not be able to make it, I'll let you know. Else, I'll see you at eight," he agreed and hung up.

* * *

Upstairs on the 35th floor, Adam had just finished up the rest of the blood samples. Every single one of those samples had come back to either one of the Parkers. This as a whole had been a completely unproductive day, he thought to himself. Adam hated days like these when there were no news to report to his boss. The only thing left was the trace that Sid had found under Delia Parker's fingernails. Adam had already tested for DNA and he was now waiting for the printer to give him this very last result, and hopefully a name. Just as he was staring impatiently at the printer, Amy walked back into the room.

"Hey, where have you been all day? You took your call and never came back. Any bad news?" Adam asked.

"Oh, it was nothing really. Hawkes took me down to autopsy afterwards. Sorry I just left you hanging. Anything you need me to do now?" Amy wanted to know. She needed to do something because the waiting on any form of result slowly drove her crazy. And she had noticed that she slowly started to become careless, as her episode outside with Don had proven. She needed something, _anything_, to remind her of why she was actually here – something that would justify all the risks she was taking.

"There really is nothing left to do. Blood samples are all tested, fingernail trace as well and I'm just now waiting on the last result here. Danny's got the rest of the evidence covered," Adam said, just when the printer, next to which Amy was standing, printed out the last DNA result.

Amy grabbed the paper and skipped immediately to the last lines, the ones that gave the end-result.

"Let me guess – male DNA and it comes back to Mr Jack Parker!" Adam guessed, desperation in his voice.

Amy looked up from the paper and started to smile. All she said was 'Gotcha', dropped the paper and left the lab, leaving a very confused Adam behind. He went over to pick up the paper that Amy had sent flying to the ground and took a closer look at the result.

_With a certainty of 99,9% the DNA belongs to __**Patrick Donovan**__._

Adam gasped and then hastily left the lab, searching for his boss. He found Mac with Danny in the other lab.

"Boss!" Adam shouted out while he was still in the hallway. Danny and Mac immediately turned around to see who was calling and saw Adam running towards them. He came into the room and had to catch his breath for a second before he started: "The DNA under Mrs Parker's fingernails gave us a result – a Patrick Donovan."

Mac took the sheet of paper from Adam and read through it, afterwards giving it to Danny. "Maybe she scratched him when she fought back?" Danny suggested after reading. "I know that every single kitchen knife out of the Parkers' kitchen…" Danny started, pointing down on all the knives he had in front of him. "…came out clean. If there was blood on them, it wasn't human. So it looks like our killer brought his own knife to the slaughtering," he went on.

Mac took another look at the paper. "Maybe we should talk to this Patrick Donovan then," he said and turned around, about to leave the room when he was called back by stammering Adam.

"Look… Boss. I don't know how to really say it, but…"

"Adam, just say it," Mac said

"When I got this result, Amy was in the room as well and she… well…" Adam continued stuttering.

"Adam, would you please just tell us what the hell's the matter?" Danny asked, his think New Yorker accent becoming more than clear when pronouncing the word 'matter'.

Adam looked at both, his boss and Danny, and told them that Amy had seen the result and had afterwards left the lab immediately. "But not without shouting 'Gotcha' for everyone to hear," he revealed.

Mac then looked worried, thinking all day that this girl couldn't get any stranger, but then he heard something like this and was proven wrong once again. "Where is she now?" he wanted to know from Adam.

"I honestly have no idea," he had to admit.

Mac looked round to Danny and said: "You call Don and have a look at Mr Donovan. I'll go and find Sinclair and hopefully, finally, a solution to this on-going riddle."

Danny nodded, took out his cell and left the room. Mac himself took out his phone and tried calling Chief Sinclair, but all he could reach was his mailbox. "Brigham, this is Mac. You'd better call me back ASAP because I won't be dealing with this childish crap any longer," he firmly announced and hung up.

* * *

Amy herself was on her way out of the building, having just called the local phone operator and thus gotten Patrick Donovan's number and address. She was smiling to herself , seeing the finish line already clearly ahead. She finally had his name and this would be the end of him. Amy would finally be able to move on with her life.

She was so lost in thoughts that she didn't notice Don, who was standing in front of elevator. She bumped straight into him on her way out.

"Sorry," she said, without looking up and knowing who she had actually just run into. As soon as she looked up and saw Don, eyebrows raised, she knew she was in trouble.

"Danny just called to say you have a suspect. He also mentioned that you had bailed after hearing said suspect's name. Anything you want to tell me? You know I'll find out anyway," he threatened.

Amy was at a loss for words. He had caught her and her very fragile house of lies was about to collapse. She swallowed hard and then tried to come up with an excuse. She blurted out the very first and only thing she could think of: "I came down to look for you, actually. Because of this suspect… I wanted you to look up his address."

Don frowned for a moment, not sure whether she was lying or telling the truth. "Why not call me?" he tested her.

"Don't have your number," she said.

"Why not look the address up yourself, in one of the lab's computers?" he wanted to know.

"Oh, I could do that?" she asked, trying to sound as naïve as possible. Sometimes this method worked and thanks to her blonde hair and blue eyes, she often succeeded, shamelessly using the prejudice that blonde women only had the intellect of a peanut.

"You knew you could do that, you're not stupid," Don replied, signalling that she couldn't fool him that easily.

Amy took a deep breath and tried to come up with one final excuse that would shut Don up for good, at least on this matter. "Look, sorry for having acted so stupidly. It's just that… in London, things are just a little different. You need to ask a police officer for an address, you can't just access any databases at will when you're only a little scientist like me. Looks like I still have to get used to the New York way of things," she lied. "But now that I've found you, why don't you take me to see Mr Donovan?" Amy asked, trying to show him her most charming smile.

At just that moment the elevator behind them opened and Danny stepped out, putting an end to Don's and Amy's conversation. Amy had never in her life been so relieved to see another person.

"There you are," Danny said, directed at Don. "I was wondering why you didn't come up and so I decided to come down." Danny looked at Amy and told her: "Mac's looking for you, by the way."

"Well, Mac will just have to wait," Amy announced. "There is a case we need to solve and Detective Flack just said that he would take me to see Mr Donovan," she claimed boldly.

Flack was impressed – he had never seen someone with such a big confidence, not afraid of using a lie to get her way. "Danny, why don't you go on home to see Lindsay and I take Detective Scott to Mr Donovan?" he suggested.

"You sure, Flack?" Danny wondered. He really wanted to go home to his little family, but Mac's orders had been that _he _and Flack were to go to Donovan, not this young detective no-one was so sure of. He had to make a decision and as much as he loved his job, there was something he loved even more – his wife, Lindsay, and their little baby daughter. "Ok, so you two go on then and see Donovan. But let Mac know about this change of plans, alright? I'll go see what Lindsay's doing," Danny concluded.

"Will do and you say Hi to Lindsay for me," Don said.

"I will, buddy," Danny replied and left the building through the front door.

Don and Amy were left alone again in the entrance hall of the crime lab building. Don looked closely at Amy and again admired her eyes, but not only them – her whole face this time. Her nose was very straight – any model would have killed for such a petite and perfect nose. She had very nice lips, slim yet soft. Her blonde and curly hair was shining with the light of the lamps in the hall – but her eyes were twinkling even more. Don started to feel a certain feeling in his stomach, a feeling he hadn't had in ages. He couldn't quite describe what it was.

Amy tried to get Don's attention, but he seemed to be absorbed in thoughts. She even snapped her fingers lightly, but got no reaction from him. Amy started to get annoyed because Don was taking his sweet time, when all _she_ wanted was to get to Donovan in time before he could run away again. Amy waved her hands in front of Don's eyes, but he seemed to have completely zoned out. The only thing she then could think of was to take his face in her hands and kiss him. The kiss started out as a light peck on the lips, but as soon as Don realized what just happened, he couldn't help himself but kiss her back. Amy herself was lost in this one sensual kiss. Never before had she kissed lips as soft and addicting as Don's. Don could say the same about Amy. For a short while both deepened the kiss, but as soon as Don opened his lips and Amy could feel his tongue on her own, she broke away from him. Both looked at each other, not really understanding what had just happened. Amy coughed slightly, trying to hide her confusion from Don. Don just looked at her. Amy felt extremely uncomfortable in this situation and just wanted to get away, so she said: "About time you woke up, Mister. Now let's go!"

* * *

**_I know this was a long one, but it didn't make any sense to cut it in half. I hope it wasn't too long for your taste and you still liked it and will stay tuned. There is a lot more to come, I promise. _**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Hello all! Fanfiction .net is a b!tch and won't update my story on the main page. Oh well...**_

_**Thanks again for your review, Jordina, I'm glad you like it.**_

_** Lurkers/Readers, don't be shy **__**and let me know what you think. Just leave me a review, no matter how short, and tell me what you like or maybe even don't like. I can only learn and get better with your help!**_

_**The next two chapters had originally been one, but it got a little long, so I cut it in half and made it two chapters. But just because they still sort of belong together, I decided to post them both.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** Nothing's mine. Oh wait, Amy is.**_

* * *

Amy walked straight out of the building, not looking back whether Don was really following her. If she wouldn't have to go to Donovan, she probably would have just wanted to get away from the blue-eyed detective. Her head was swirling and she felt nauseous for a second. _What the hell is wrong with me_? Amy asked herself. She had let Don kiss her and she had returned the kiss. She could still feel his lips on hers, still taste him on her lips. Amy took a deep breath, trying to get over this feeling of nausea. She felt as if her life was falling apart – the life she had taken about 10 years to construct. It had started collapsing when she had come to New York.

Don came out of the building behind her, looking at the tall, blonde girl in front of him. He had no idea what she was doing to him. He had a girlfriend and Jess was amazing, he had never had so much fun with any other girl. And yet, the feeling of butterflies in his stomach – the feeling he had just had while kissing Amy – was a feeling he had never experienced with Jess. _This can't be happening, not with her, not right now, _he swore to himself and resolved that from now on, he would only see her as part of the investigation and he had to act professionally.

"My car is down the road, follow me," he said to Amy and took the lead. She followed him, not saying anything, rather avoiding his gaze when he looked back at her, to see whether she was following. At the car, he held the door open for her, just as any gentleman would do and Amy got in, without saying a word. All she could muster up was a little smile.

Don got into the car on the driver's side, started the engine and took off. He turned towards Amy, who was looking out of the window on her side, clearly avoiding him. Don didn't know whether he should say something, but he decided against it, just because he himself didn't quite understand what was going on between them. They both passed the ride in silence, and only when they were close to Donovan's address did Don speak up:

"We're almost there. Look, I don't know how things are done in London, but here, I speak and you're silent, alright?"

"You want me to stay silent? Are you kidding me?" Amy shouted out. "Does everyone have to be silent when they are out with you?"

"No," he answered and then added: "Only you."

"Oh, and why are we so discriminating now?" she asked challengingly.

"Because I don't know you and I don't trust you, at least not with this investigation," he stated.

"And yet, you took me with you and sent Danny home," she remarked, looking over to him, her eyebrows winkled.

"The more time I spent with you, the more I get to know about you," he let her know.

"You sure that you don't just want to get in my pants?" she asked, knowing that she had provoked him.

Don stopped the car in front of Donovan's house and took one last look at Amy before he got out of the car. She followed and walked behind him, up to the front door. Amy grinned. She felt relieved. Here it was, here they would find him, here it would all come to an end. Don turned around and saw the huge grin Amy had on her face.

"Look, little Miss Princess, I so do _not_ want to get in your pants. I'm only spending time with you to see what kind of weaknesses you have. You do remember that I told you that I would find your secret? I still stand to what I said. Mark my words," he warned her. Don turned towards the door, rung the doorbell and then added, not looking over to where Amy was standing: "Besides, I have a girlfriend."

Amy wanted to ask him why he had kissed her in the lobby and what his girlfriend would have to say to that, when an old man opened the door for them. He had grey hair, wrinkled face and was wearing very thick glasses. He obviously had trouble walking and standing because he was leaning on a stick. Amy saw that he had a hearing aid in his left ear.

"Good evening, sir. I'm Detective Flack and this is Detective Scott, we're from the NYPD," Flack introduced the two of them.

"And what can I do for you, detectives?" the old man wanted to know.

"We're looking for a certain Patrick Donovan, this is his address. We have a few questions for him," Amy enlightened him, consciously disregarding Don's rule of only letting him talk.

The old man looked first at Amy and then at Don. "I'm Patrick Donovan," he said.

Amy looked at him and said: "This can't be true." She felt her throat tighten up and she had trouble breathing. This old man was supposed to be the murderer of her parents? Amy couldn't believe it. She started to feel dizzy and had to hold on to Flack, else she would have fallen down.

Don, noticing that Amy had grabbed his arm for support, immediately reacted. He took her in his arms and asked tenderly: "Amy, is everything alright?"

Amy couldn't answer, everything was flickering in front of her eyes. She couldn't hear anything either Don or the old man said, all she could hear were little snippets of a conversation going on between the two men. She heard words like "come in", "couch" and "water", but she could make no sense of what she heard. She felt someone pick her up and carry her, but was incapable to oppose. She was laid down on a smooth and comfortable surface and a glass was raised to her lips. She had a sip and felt life coming back into her body. She blinked a couple of times and swallowed hard. Then she closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. She sensed a hand rubbing up and down her back. She noticed that it must be Don doing that because Patrick Donovan was standing in front of her. Her body started to prickle all over. _I have to get out of here_, was all she could think of.

Amy tried standing up, but she hadn't quit counted on her legs being so wobbly, so that she had to sit back down immediately.

"Not so fast, racer," Don told her, with a tenderness in his voice that surprised Amy, but even more so Don himself.

"Would you mind if I waited for you in the car while you talk to Mr Donovan?" she asked. Don nodded at her and Amy slowly got up, steadied herself and walked out the door. Once outside and at the car, she leaned against it and closed her eyes again. Her hands rubbed over her face and she groaned. _How could this have happened? How could we get to the wrong suspect? How can he be a serial killer when he can't even stand on his own two feet without a stick to help him? _Amy opened the car door and sat down, impatiently waiting for Don to come back. About ten minutes later, he came out of the house and walked straight up to the car. Inside, he looked over to Amy and asked:

"Are you feeling better?" Amy heard the sincere concern in his voice.

"I'm alright," was all she could say.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I guess it's because I haven't eaten anything all day," Amy confessed.

"It's eight o'clock and you haven't eaten anything? Ok, that's it, you'll now get a taste of heaven," Don said and started the car.

"Really, just drop me off at the lab, that's fine," Amy told him.

"Just so you collapse right into Mac's arms this time? No. Besides, I'm hungry myself, so let's go grab something to eat," he announced.

"Fine, but only under one condition…" Amy demanded.

"Ok, shoot," Don agreed.

"You tell me in detail what Donovan had to say."

"I would have done that anyway, over dinner," Don said.

"No, now." Amy felt as if she was sitting on hot coals and she just had to know what Donovan's DNA was doing under their victim's fingernails.

"Fine, alright. But only because I don't want to fight with you again right now. If you get a heart attack or something, it would be my fault," Don smirked. Then he went on: "Donovan got scratched by Delia Parker in the supermarket yesterday evening. She was wearing heels, one of them broke off and she stumbled, right into Mr Donovan. He quite the gentleman wanted to help her, but as you've seen, he's old and can't walk without a stick anymore. They both fell over. In the course of falling, she accidentally scratched him. She apologized a thousand times and paid for his groceries. He was deeply upset that she had been murdered only shortly after."

Amy was sitting in her seat, thinking about Mr Donovan. She had already thought that she was finally at the end of her act of revenge, but now she found herself right back at the beginning, nothing solid in her hands. Her parents' murderer was still somewhere out there and Amy knew, she just knew, that if they wouldn't find him soon, he would kill again.

* * *

Mac was pacing up and down in front of Chief Sinclair's office, waiting for his boss to come back. His secretary had told Mac that the Chief wouldn't be back for the rest of the day, but since she was paid by Sinclair to say whatever he wanted her to, Mac couldn't be sure that she wasn't lying to him. He had to admit that he was getting desperate – this was just not his best day. Flack just called to say that their only suspect was no suspect anymore and that yet again, they were standing there empty-handed. And on the other hand, he still hadn't solved the mystery surrounding his newest CSI. He had even called Scotland Yard in London, but no-one would give him a proper answer. "Personnel files are confidential" was all he had heard today. And the only man in Scotland Yard, who had the clearance to tell him anything, was on vacation for another three days. Mac felt as if he was treading in bare water. He had already been pacing up and down in front of Sinclair's office for the last hour, but the chief still wasn't in. Mac was about to give up, when Brigham Sinclair walked in after all.

"Mac," he sighed.

"Brigham," Mac replied. Before the other man had a chance to say something though, Mac had already started again: "I need to know what's up. She might be putting my whole investigation in danger!"

Sinclair signalled for Mac to follow him into his office because he didn't want his secretary to hear everything and then spread the latest gossip all over the NYPD. He shut the door behind Mac and walked over to his desk, sitting down in his chair, motioning for Mac to sit down opposite him.

"Mac, there really isn't anything to tell," he confessed.

"You hired her. Why?" Mac wanted to know.

"I owed someone in her family a favour."

"So someone in her family and not herself?" Mac asked, remembering that Amy had mentioned that this job had been a favour to her.

"Someone in her family, exactly. But that's all I can tell, Mac. You need to trust me that Amy is very good at her job and that she will be helping you out with your investigation," Sinclair assured him.

"Why do I get the feeling that even you don't really know what's going on here?" Mac tried his luck, but Sinclair stayed silent. "Brigham, what does she have against you?" Mac tried again. But Sinclair didn't say a single word and was not willing to help Mac out. "Looks like I'm on my own again," he sighed, got up and left the room.

Outside, Mac got out his cell and called Hawkes: "Sheldon, this is me, Mac. Meet me in my office in ten minutes. There is something I need you to do."

* * *

_**Next chapter up as well!**_


	7. Chapter 7

Don brought Amy to Joe's bar – the bar only a couple of blocks away from the precinct. A lot of members of the NYPD came here after a long shift to unwind a little while having a couple of drinks. Only a few weeks before, Joe had started to serve food as well and Don had to admit that he served the best steaks he had ever had. Don thought that Amy could do with a proper meal and some drinks – both had had a long day.

"So this is where you people usually hang out?" Amy asked after she and Don had sat down at the bar and ordered their first round of drinks.

"This is the perfect place to unwind after a long shift. And we both had a long day. Plus, I happen to know that Joe serves the best steaks in town," Don replied, winking at Joe, who was standing behind the bar, making their drinks.

"You're the best PR one can have, Flack," Joe said with his broad New Yorker accent. He smiled at Amy and remarked: "Never seen you here before. You're his date?"

Amy smiled at Joe and said: "Do I look that desperate?" This made Joe laugh and he gave both of them their drinks.

Amy's order had surprised Don – he hadn't taken her for a Gin & Tonic kind of girl. But he also knew that it was probably a total cliché that English people only drank one pint of lager after another. He raised his glass and smiled at Amy. He was happy that the awkwardness after the kiss had almost vanished by now. He still wasn't sure what to make of it, but he thought that it was probably best to forget about it.

Amy looked around the bar and was surprised to see so many NYPD officers spending their evening here. A lot of them were just standing in bulks, talking, while others played pool or tried their luck at one of the quiz game machines. She knew these things from her favourite London pub. Don, meanwhile, had a look at Amy. She seemed to enjoy herself here, tonight, with him. All day she had been absent-minded and had sought confrontation wherever she could. But right now, she seemed to calm down and relax. He didn't notice that Amy was watching him herself.

"What is so funny?" she asked.

Don realized that she was talking to him: "Huh, what?"

"You're smiling, almost laughing. What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. Just enjoying myself," he had to admit. "So, are you now finally telling me a little bit about you?" he attempted.

"Oh detective, you think I'm going to make it that easy for you?" Amy teased. "Why not tell me a little about your girlfriend first?" she challenged him, painfully reminding him of the kiss the two had shared earlier that day.

"You've met her. It's Detective Angell," he responded.

"Do you love her?" Amy asked bluntly.

"Why would I answer such a question when I don't even know you?"

"I personally find it easier to talk to total strangers about feelings," Amy admitted.

"I'm a stranger to you, tell me about your feelings," Don tried.

"We kissed. You don't qualify as a stranger anymore," Amy winked.

Don didn't know what to say to that and was quite glad that at just that moment, the food arrived. It smelled fantastic and he realized that he was even hungrier than he had thought. Amy herself must have been hungry because she immediately started devouring the food. Don liked girls with a good appetite and he had no sympathy for those that only had one salad after another because they didn't want to gain any weight. He caught himself smiling while looking at the eating Amy. _What the hell is wrong with me? I barely know this girl and I have a girlfriend, she makes me happy_, Don pleaded.

Amy ordered another round of drinks for both of them. She was pensive. This had been a long day, but not necessarily one she would label as 'successful'. She knew that the whole team was listening to every word she said, trying to find out what was going on. She hadn't exactly made any friends today – apart from Don maybe. But in her book, he was the devil. He was so damn attractive that he could have any girl he wanted to have. He only had to smile and show off his dimples and he had them already wrapped around his little finger. In cases where that was not enough, he just gave them a glimpse of his ocean-blue eyes and even the last girl was falling down on her knees and would worship the very ground he walked on. Never had Amy seen herself as such a girl and still – they had kissed. A kiss that had started as a simple 'Snap him out of his dreams' tool, but then had ended as the best kiss she had ever had. _This has to stop, _Amy vowed. _There are more important things to do here. I'm on a mission, dammit, _she swore herself not to forget.

"You really are a master at this whole zoning-out thing," Don observed, bringing Amy back to the here and now.

"Sorry, it was just a long and highly unproductive day," she commented.

"Tell me about it," Don said and finished his drink.

"Would you mind taking me back to the lab? My stuff is there," Amy asked.

"Not at all," Don agreed and both got up and left.

* * *

Mac was sitting at his desk when Hawkes walked in. "You wanted to talk to me, Mac?"

"Yeah, I do. Sorry I made you come in so late. We all had a long day and I bet you just want to go home," Mac apologized.

"It's alright, Mac. Just let me know what you need," Sheldon offered.

"I need you to find out whatever you can about Amy Scott. I tried and I didn't find anything. I actually spent my whole day on her and now look at my desk and all the files that have piled up on just a single day. I can't really waste anymore time on it, but I also don't want to let it go, I can't," Mac said.

Hawkes nodded. "I know what you mean. Something's up with her."

"You will work closely with her now and no matter how tiny the detail might be, I want you to report back to me. I know in what kind of situation I'm putting you, Sheldon, and I really don't like doing it."

"Don't worry, boss. I would have scruple if she was a friend, but she's a total stranger to me, to everyone on the team. You got it, I'll be doing it for you," Hawkes assured.

"Thanks Sheldon. And now go home and get some sleep, there's nothing more we can do tonight," Mac said and dismissed Hawkes.

* * *

Don walked into his apartment and closed the door behind him. He got himself a can of beer out of the fridge and sat down at the computer to check his mails. That's when he remembered that he wanted to send a mail to his old friend Marc in London.

He walked into his bedroom and got his old notepad, leafing through the pages, trying to find Marc's mail address, which he knew had to be in there somewhere. Don heard a knock on his door and went to open it. In front of him stood Angell, wearing a black dress, red lipstick and high heels.

"Wow, you cleaned up nice," Don complimented her. "Special occasion that I don't know anything about?" Jess walked into his apartment and shut the door with a bang. "Why do I get the feeling you're angry?" Don asked carefully.

"Didn't you forget something?" Jess asked, clearly agitated.

"It looks like I did, but I wouldn't know what," Don had to admit.

"Dinner, my place, eight o'clock? Ring a bell?"

Don closed his eyes and groaned – he had forgotten his date with Jess. "Where have you been all night? I tried your cell, but all I got was your mailbox and so I thought I'd come and have a look. I was worried sick, Don!" she shouted.

Don got his cell out and saw that his battery had died. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, fully knowing that it was not enough, but the best he could do at the moment.

"Where have you been?" Jess wanted to know.

"Joe's. I was at Joe's."

Jess snorted. "You rather spent your night in a bar than with me? Now that's a sign," she retorted and walked towards the door. Don grabbed her arm, not wanting her to leave as angry as she was.

"Look, I really am sorry I forgot," he said, looking directly at Jess. She knew him and she could see in his eyes that he deeply regretted having stood her up.

"Who were you with?" she asked then.

"Why do you think I was _with _someone?"

"I didn't want to listen to rumours, especially because it was Pete telling it and everyone knows he is the biggest blabbermouth in the NYPD. But he saw you kissing the new girl," she let him know.

Don sighed and took a deep breath. He should have known that someone had probably seen him kissing someone other than his girlfriend in the lobby of the crime lab building. He rubbed his face with his hands and looked at Jess. He knew that she wanted to have an explanation, but there simply was none.

Jess looked at him and smiled hurtfully. "He was right, wasn't he? You kissed her."

Don knew how much he had hurt her by the tone of her voice. It was matter-of-factly as not to let him know how hurt and upset she really was. He was sure that a simple 'sorry' wouldn't be enough.

Jess walked towards the door and opened it, turning back to him one more time. "I can live with a lot of things. But you kissing a stranger and spending the night with her rather than your girlfriend – that just hurts, Don." Jess left the apartment, closing the door quietly behind her.

Don was left alone in his apartment, shocked at what had just happened. He was disgusted by himself and by what he had done to Jess. He knew that she deserved so much better. He had made a fool out of himself today and he didn't even know what for. He had to make it up to Jess, but before he could do that, he had to finish the whole 'Amy-business'. He sat down on the computer and typed a mail to his friend Marc, then had another look for his mail address and after having found it, he clicked the 'send' button.

Now all he had to do was wait and hope for a helpful answer.

* * *

Amy walked through the dark streets of New York City. She was on her way to her hotel. She hadn't bothered with a comfortable or luxurious accommodation because she had hoped that she wouldn't have to stay in New York for too long.

When she arrived there, she asked the receptionist for her room key and was surprised to find that someone had left her a message. She took the brown envelop, wondering from whom it might be. She couldn't remember telling anyone where she was staying.

She walked into her room, closed the door and sat down on the bed. She took off her jacket and then opened the envelop. Out fell a folded piece of paper and a little golden necklace.

Amy gasped. She knew the necklace – it had belonged to her mum. Amy then took the piece of paper and opened it, her hands trembling.

_I see you made it to New York alright. I also see that you found my little welcoming present – the Parkers. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not finished yet and it seems that you enjoy your stay in New York, so you probably don't mind staying a little longer. Say Hi to your Detective-friend from me._

Amy's whole body trembled. The note had been written with a typewriter, so there was no chance to trace it back to its sender. Amy fell back down on the bed and closed her eyes. He was watching her – that's how he knew about Flack. She hated it that he was always so close and yet so far away. She felt extremely frustrated.

She sat back up and before folding the note again, she had another look at the signature of the note.

_Your Worst Nightmare._

_

* * *

_

_**I've got the weekend off and I'm ill, so I'm going to spend my recovery time writing - watch out for updates!**_

_**Read and Review, please. I just like knowing that there are readers out there who like what I'm doing. :)**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hey everyone! Thanks for reviews, alerts. Overall, thank you to those who are reading this story. I have no idea where this following chapter might bring me to – I'm just way too sad at the moment (I just watched the CSI:NY season 5 finale). **_

_**I'm not following the normal plot line of the show, so the events of the finale will have no effect on my story.  
**_

_**Beware**__** – some graphic (and gory) details ahead.**_

_**Disclaimer**__**: Only Amy is mine.**_

_**Now enjoy, read and review.**_

* * *

Lindsay was woken up by the smell of freshly brewed coffee. She slowly opened her eyes and looked to her side – the bed was empty, Danny was already up. She stretched one more time and then slowly got up, making her way into the kitchen, still a little drowsy from sleep. She was standing in the kitchen doorway, looking at her husband, who had their beautiful little baby girl in his arms.

"Morning you two," she greeted.

"Morning Mama," Danny imitated a child's voice and made his little girl wave with its tiny arm. Lindsay smiled and Danny walked over to her to give her a gentle kiss on the nose. "How did you sleep last night?" he wanted to know.

"God, like a stone!" Lindsay exclaimed. "I can't believe our little girl already slept through the night, she's only a couple of weeks old."

"What makes you think that she slept through?" Danny asked, his left eyebrow raised.

"Well, I wasn't woken up by a baby crying," Lindsay explained.

"Sorry to disappoint you, honey, but our little baby girl did _not_ sleep through. She woke up at around four and started crying. But you were so passed out, you didn't even hear her," Danny teased.

"Oh," Lindsay said, ashamed that she had slept so deeply that she hadn't even heard her own child crying. "Now if this doesn't show what a bad mother I am, then…"

"Lindsay, stop," Danny interrupted her. "You are the _best _mother there is. You were just so exhausted, no wonder you slept like a stone. And by the way, I didn't mind having a little alone time with little Lucy," he added.

"Lucy," Lindsay repeated. "What do you think the others will say about us naming her Lucy?"

"They are going to _love _it. Everything about this little girl is adorable!" Danny said and raised his daughter up into the air, smiling at her. He was rewarded with one of Lucy's cutest smiles. "Why don't you go on and sit down at the table and I bring you some coffee?" Danny offered to his wife.

Lindsay didn't hesitate long, she would make use of her husband's latest mood of serving her whenever he could. Danny brought her coffee, a croissant and some jam – knowing that this was what Lindsay loved best for breakfast. She smiled at him and sniffed. "This smells absolutely delicious," she said.

"I know, I bought this new aftershave a couple of days ago. I thought you would like it," Danny responded.

Lindsay sniggered. "I wasn't talking of your aftershave, babe, but of the coffee," she enlightened him. Danny faked a hurt facial expression and sat down next to Lindsay at the table, his little daughter on his lap. "I missed coffee during the pregnancy. And now I can't get enough of it," she said and made Danny laugh.

"Look, little Lucy, isn't mummy the prettiest woman you've ever seen, with the prettiest smile on earth?" he talked to his little girl.

Lindsay smiled at both of them and leaned over to kiss her husband first and then her daughter. "You got work today?" she asked after she had had a sip of coffee.

"I don't know, I'm going to call Mac in a few. But first I want to spend a little quality time with my family," he announced, took Lindsay's coffee cup and had a sip himself.

* * *

Don had barely gotten any sleep the previous night and so he looked mighty tired when he stumbled into the precinct the next morning. He had researched Amy on the internet and had waited for a mail response from his friend in London – but he hadn't received anything. His research had been as unsuccessful as Mac's and they were all on the same page again – the one that read: _We don't know anything about Amy Scott and yet, we have to deal and work with her_. Don was getting frustrated, with himself and the whole situation. He had hurt Jess because he had given in to a kiss with Amy. How stupid had he been? Jess was great and she made him happy and the time he spent with her was always the best. He had to make it up to her somehow.

He scanned the precinct and saw Jess sitting at her desk in the left-hand corner of the room. She was doing paperwork and looked concentrated. He walked over to her desk and cleared his throat, trying to get her attention. He had to repeat it a total of three times before she responded, without looking up at him.

"What do you want, Don?"

"Apologize?" he tried.

Jess looked up at him and put her pen down. "Little late for that, don't you think?" she stated.

"I behaved like a dick, I know that. If I could turn back time, I would," he said, sincerely sorry.

"Why is it that you guys always use this as a last resort. You all know that time can't be turned back. Use your brains and come up with a better excuse, then we can talk," she told him and turned her attention back to her paperwork. Don was dismissed.

He just wanted to start on a better apology when his cell went off in his pocket. He took it out and answered: "Flack?"

Jess didn't look at him and pretended to still focus on her work, but instead she was listening to Don's phone conversation. She felt jealous. She thought it might be Amy calling him and she felt her temper rise. The next time she'd see her, Jess couldn't guarantee for Amy's safety. What was the little Brit thinking – waltzing into the NYPD and everything and everyone would immediately fall down and hail her as the Queen? If that was what she wanted, Jess would show her the traditional American way of life and Amy would get to know Jess' best bitch slap.

Don hung up the phone and turned to Jess once again. "That was Mac. They have found two more bodies, looks like the same killer. He wants me at the scene," he said, waiting whether she would respond, but Jess didn't do him the favour. "I know I have to make it up to you and I will, I promise. Tonight?" he offered.

Finally, Jess looked up at him and nodded. Don turned around and left, happy that she had made a little concession and was willing to give him another chance. Jess, however, really hoped that he wouldn't stand her up again. This was his last chance.

"He'd better make use of it," she muttered to herself.

* * *

Don arrived at the crime scene at the same time as Amy and Stella did. He watched her closely as she got out of the SUV and grabbed one of the crime scene kits in the trunk.

"Ready to roll?" he heard Stella ask her. "Hi Don," Stella then greeted him. She walked up to the tall detective and Amy strolled up to the house behind them.

They ducked under the crime scene tape and walked through the front door into the house. Don sniffed. He knew this smell – it was of blood, death and decay.

Mac walked out of what Don assumed to be the kitchen and warned them: "I hope your breakfast has been properly digested already, 'cause this ain't pretty."

Amy prepared herself for what there was to come, but no-one could have predicted this: the walls in the kitchen were smeared with blood and one could distinguish some whole hand prints on the tapestry. One of the victims, the man, was still sitting in his chair, his throat slit. His shirt was soaked with blood and there was a large pool of it under and around the chair. The female victim was lying face-down on the ground, her blouse blood-soaked and a knife was stuck in her back. It looked as if the killer hadn't even bothered taking it out this time. She must have bled to death because she was lying in a huge pool of blood that everyone for now assumed to be her own. A few bloody hand prints had been found on the floor, suggesting that she had crawled before she had finally died in the spot she was lying in now.

Amy carefully walked around the kitchen, trying not to disturb or compromise any evidence. _He's getting more and more violent_, she thought, looking at the slaughterhouse that had once been a kitchen. She walked over to the cabinet front of the kitchen where Mac was kneeling down. He was swabbing something and Amy looked over his shoulder at what he was doing.

"Found this written on one of the cabinets. I just swabbed the blood, but I think it will come back to either one of them," he said, getting up and pointed towards both victims.

Amy's gaze was fixed on the cabinet. A six-letter word was spelt out on the cabinet door, written with fresh blood that had trickled down a little by now, a few distinct drops on the floor in the front of the cabinet. Amy read the word: _Gotcha_ and her blood froze. She needed some fresh air and she needed it quick. She mumbled something about trace outside to Mac and then left the house, not looking back at the rest of the team as she fled the house. Once outside she inhaled deeply and looked into the sky. The sun was obscured by dark rain clouds and Amy started to feel some rain drops on her nose. She knew that it was about to bucket down and she sure would be drenched soon, but at that moment, she couldn't think of a better way to cool down.

She heard someone come out of the house behind her, but she didn't turn round. Only when she felt a hand on her shoulder, did she turn to see Don standing behind her.

"Don't faint again, alright?"

"I won't," she let him know.

"I know seeing something like this for the first time is hard. I remember my first bloody crime scene, I had to leave as well," he tried to reassure her.

Amy abruptly turned her whole body round to face Don. "You think I'm a child, a rookie? I've seen worse before, believe me and I don't need your petty advice," she snapped at him.

"Look, I really don't know what's your problem, but I only genuinely wanted to help you, alright?" he said and walked back inside.

"I know," Amy whispered, ashamed of herself, but Don was already gone and he hadn't heard what she had said. Amy hated herself for snapping at him like that when he just tried to be nice to her. She knew that she was slowly losing it. The mind-boggling game that this killer was playing with her was getting too much to bear. His latest clue had been _'Gotcha' _on the kitchen cabinet, reminding Amy that she had been sitting in the cabinet in her parents' kitchen while they had been murdered 20 years ago. Amy had only been five and after having heard her mum scream, she had been too afraid to open the cabinet. Only when she hadn't heard anything for what seemed to have been hours, had she peeped out and found her mum and dad lying in their own blood.

Amy blinked, feeling the first big rain drops splash into her face. She didn't know how he had heard about her having been in the cabinet, but she was sure that he knew. He was toying with her, trying to drive her crazy and he was on his way to win the game. Amy started to cry. She was happy that it started to rain because then, no-one would be able to distinguish between tear and raindrop. He was slowly bringing her to the end of her powers and she wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to take it, without breaking down.

* * *

Mac saw Amy walking through the garden. He knew that bringing her to the crime scene had been a test to see how much she could take. Normally, he would have never made someone come to a scene like this without being aware of how much they could endure. But just because he didn't know anything about her, he had to try it all out himself. Stella joined him at the window, zipping up an evidence bag.

"What the hell is she doing?" Stella asked.

"She murmured something about 'trace outside' and left the house," Mac told his friend and colleague.

"It's pouring down out there. Even if there was any evidence, it would be washed away by now," she stated.

"Hawkes already had the garden covered before you guys arrived. It's already processed anyway," Mac told her.

"Then why did you let her go outside?"

"Because now, she's not in the way," he replied and went back to processing the male victim.

* * *

Don walked back and forth between the kitchen and the squad cars outside, talking to the first officers on the scene and making sure that the coroner had been called to the scene. Andrea and Theo York had been respectable people, so their neighbours told him, and everyone had liked them. All the people Don had talked to were shocked by the events that must have unfolded around breakfast time. Don walked back into the kitchen to let the CSIs know what he had learnt till now.

"Are you surprised to hear that no-one saw or heard anything?" he asked them.

"Not really," Mac answered. "Anything else?"

"No. Andrea and Theo York moved here about two months ago and were about to make lots of friends in the neighbourhood. The people didn't really know anything about them, but liked them nonetheless," he started on his report.

"See a pattern here?" Mac interrupted and asked, directing his question at both Stella and Don.

Don looked rather ignorant, but Stella looked at Mac and smiled her 'I've-Got-It' smile at him. "Both couples had only recently moved into their neighbourhood. Is that what you meant?"

"Exactly," Mac said. "This could be a coincidence, but I don't believe in coincidences with this guy."

"If there's nothing else you need me to do here, I'll go back to the precinct now and snoop around in old files. Maybe I find some unsolved cases that involve couples who have only recently moved into their neighbourhood," Don announced and took off.

He had by then no idea how much closer he was coming to discovering Amy's secret.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Ok, here goes the next chapter. Thanks to my two reviewers. :)  
**_

_**To all you others – leave me a review at the end. No matter how short it may be, without them I'll never know how much this story actually sucks! Any form of feedback is highly appreciated because I'm starting to doubt my own story and qualities. If this is bad and you think so, just let me know. If I need to change something, let me know. If you like it, let me know. Just say something, petty please?**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I don't own anything, just my ideas and my OC.**_

_**Enjoy, read and review.**_

* * *

After Don had taken off, the CSI team continued their processing of the house. Mac wanted them all to be extra thorough this time. They hadn't found any usable evidence the last time and Mac felt guilty. Just because he hadn't found anything, this brutal murder was made possible. Mac swore to himself that he wouldn't let this beast walk freely for much longer.

Stella was looking through every kitchen drawer she could find and bagged all the knives there were. Maybe this time round they would be luckier.

Hawkes was taking a closer look at Mrs York's body. He slowly and carefully removed the knife from her back and put it into an evidence bag. After that he diligently searched her clothes for any trace he could find, be it any unknown substance or a jackpot – a hair left behind by the killer. At first sight, he couldn't find anything, so he rolled the body over and tried his luck on the other side. He afterwards did the same with Mr York until he gave the bodies over to Sid, who would take them back to the morgue and start the autopsy.

Mac was strolling through the house, on the lookout for anything that seemed unusual or out of place. He was just going through the papers in the victims' office when Amy came back in through the front door. She was soaking wet and after a couple of seconds she realized that she was dropping. She leapt back out, not wanting to compromise anything, when Mac came towards her.

"Go home and get changed. I then see you back at the lab later," he ordered.

"I'm fine. If you don't need me here anymore, I'll go back to the lab now and start on the work there," she suggested however.

"You're soaking wet, you will get really ill this way. I'm telling you, go home and get changed," Mac insisted.

"And I'm telling you, Detective Taylor that I'm fine and I will dry off naturally, not a problem. So, do you want me to go back to the lab?" she asked.

Mac sighed. He called for Hawkes, who came into the entrance hall, taking his gloves off. "Hawkes, Stella and I will wrap this up here. Why don't you take Amy and the evidence we have until now back to the lab? You'll meet Danny there and start on the evidence?" Mac asked Hawkes, winking at him.

"Sounds good to me, boss," Hawkes responded. He walked back into the kitchen to get his kit and then motioned for Amy to follow him to his SUV.

Mac was left behind with Stella, who was coming out of the kitchen, dusting powder in her hand.

"You don't trust her alone with the evidence," she stated, looking back at Mac as she started dusting the front door and its lock for fingerprints.

"I wouldn't trust that girl with my life, even if she was the only one around," Mac had to admit.

* * *

Amy was staring out of the window while she and Hawkes soared through New York. It was noon and the city seemed to be reaching its peak. There were people walking along the streets, into shops and out of them, busily hasting down to subway stations as if there was no tomorrow. She had already noticed this the first time she had set foot on New York ground a week ago. She had been run over by about a dozen people in the first half hour, afterwards scared for her life. It certainly took some getting used to the constant bustle in New York City.

Amy heard someone snap next to her and she turned around, realizing that she was in the car with Hawkes and he was talking to her. "Where have you been?" he now wanted to know, a warming smile on his face.

"Tuscany," she lied.

"Warm and sunny there?" he wanted to know, looking up at the dark and cloudy New York sky.

"Very warm and very sunny," Amy shared and smiled at him. She started shuffling about in her seat because she had to ask Hawkes something that she knew would be awkward for both of them. She finally brought herself to ask anyway and blurted out: "Mac told you to watch me, didn't he?"

Hawkes stayed silent for a minute and he wondered why he felt as if he were back in high school and the head cheerleader had just discovered the huge crush he had on her. He knew he had to say something and didn't quite know where to start. He didn't want to frame Mac, but he also didn't want to lie to Amy, seeing as she already knew that something was going on.

"He's just worried, alright? He doesn't know anything about you, no-one does. He has no idea where you came from and what you're doing here. If you would only share a little bit about yourself, at least with him, then… Then I bet he wouldn't be so suspicious," Hawkes finally said.

She slowly breathed in and out, digesting what Hawkes had just told her. She knew that eventually her appearance here would become a major issue and that at some point, she either had to come clean or leave. Amy just hoped that she had a little more time, she only needed a little.

They arrived at the garage of the crime lab building and got out of the car. All the way up to the lab, the two of them didn't speak. Amy had a lot to reflect on, Hawkes felt as if he had stabbed Mac in the back for telling Amy that she was being watched. As the elevator doors opened on the 35th floor, Danny was already there, waiting for the two of them. Hawkes handed him the evidence, so that Danny could start with unpacking the little pouches while Amy and Hawkes got rid of their coats.

When Amy and Hawkes walked into the DNA lab, Adam had already started on swabbing the knives for DNA evidence. He had his iPod earplugs in his ears and was humming a melody that Amy couldn't recognize.

"You'd better leave him alone when he's doing that," Hawkes enlightened Amy. "It seems as if he's bringing the best results when he's processing while listening to music."

Amy was about to respond, but their conversation was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. It was Sid to tell him that he already had preliminary autopsy results that the team might be interested in. Hawkes was about to leave when Amy called him back.

"Any chance I could do it?"

Hawkes eyed her suspiciously.

"Look, the last time I was down there, I was an ass to Dr. Hammerback, I snapped at him when he didn't do anything wrong. I'd just like to use this opportunity to apologize."

Hawkes nodded and thought about it for a second. He had promised Mac to look after Amy, but she seemed to be really honest at the moment and he wondered whether he should maybe give here a chance. "Alright," he gave in. "You go on and see what Sid has to say, I start processing the evidence I collected."

Amy smiled at him. "Thank you, Hawkes. You won't regret it. And if you have to," she added, "you can check with Sid later whether I behaved like a good girl or not." This made Hawkes laugh and with a wave, he dismissed her from her lab duties and sent her down to the morgue.

* * *

Amy felt nervous as she was standing in the elevator, going down to the morgue. Apologizing to Sid hadn't been her only motif to go down here – she also wanted to stay close to the victims. She felt as if she owed it to them.

She imagined them sitting at their breakfast table, talking about the plans they had that day. She imagined her sipping her coffee while her husband told her that he would finally start on painting the garden fence, something he had promised to do for a long time now. His wife was happy. Then the doorbell rang and she got up. A man was standing in front of it, saying he had car trouble and whether he could maybe use their phone. Her husband walked to the front door as well, and as generous and nice as they were, they invited him into their house. The husband walked him into the kitchen where the phone was, the wife going upstairs to get the laundry out of the washing machine. She knew that her husband had it all covered. The man told the husband to sit back down, have the rest of his coffee. He would just quickly make the call and then wait outside. Not seeing any danger, he did so and only moments later, he would be dead, his throat slit open. Everything happened quickly, no scream would escape his mouth. The wife would come down and see what happened, would instinctively walk over to her husband, only to be stabbed seconds later herself. Their plans for the day wouldn't have worked out.

Amy sighed. It could have happened just like this, or maybe even differently, but the end result would still remain the same. The couple was dead and their killer was in the wind, probably already preparing his newest deed.

The elevator doors slid open and Amy walked into the morgue. She already saw Sid standing in one of the autopsy rooms and she walked over to join him. "Hey," she carefully announced herself because she didn't want him to be startled by her presence.

"Oh, Miss Amy!" he shouted out, but then remembered that him calling her 'miss' had led to some snapping the last time she was there, so he quickly corrected himself: "Detective Scott, I meant, sorry."

"Look, Dr. Hammerback," she started.

"Sid, please," he told her.

"Ok, Sid then. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the last time I was here. I didn't mean to snap at you. It was just a long day and I was frustrated and tired, so…"

"Don't sweat it," Sid interrupted and then smiled at her, making her feel at ease.

"So what do you have for us then?" Amy wanted to know.

Ten minutes later she walked back into the lab, Sid's preliminary report in a folder in her hand. She was on her way to the lab to see Hawkes when she bumped into Mac.

"Hawkes told me that you were down in autopsy. Is that the report?" he asked and pointed at the folder in her hand.

"Yes, it is. It's not much though. The main point seems to be that the knife in Mrs York's back only made this one stab wound and that it was _not _the knife that stabbed her about 17 times in chest and back. So maybe the knife is in our lab here or he took it with him," she summed up the most important point.

"Then go on and join Adam. Dust the knives he has already collected DNA from and then hope that we get an answer this time," Mac dismissed her.

Mac was left back in the hallway, looking after Amy as she walked towards the lab Adam was working in. He knew she did her work conscientiously and if she had properly applied, he might have even considered her an asset to the team. But the way things were now, he simply couldn't and wouldn't trust her.

* * *

_**So I know that this was basically a little bit of a filler, but every story needs those as well. Stay tuned to find out what happens next!**_

_**ETA: Because this was such a filler, I decided to already post the next chapter! So chapter 10 is up as well. Read it, it's a shocker!  
**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Here comes chapter 10 and its end will hold a huge revelation!**_

_**Enjoy, read and review!**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I own nothing.**_

* * *

Mac was sitting in his office, from where he could always see the elevator. He was lost in thoughts and by chance, when looking towards the elevator doors as those opened, he saw Lindsay coming in. She was carrying her little baby girl in a carrier. She saw Mac in his office and smiled broadly at him. He got up and walked towards his office doors, to open them for Lindsay. She walked in, put the carrier on his couch and gave Mac a big and warming hug.

"It's so good to be back in here!" she exclaimed. "I missed the lab!"

"The lab misses you, Mrs Messer," Mac said.

"Monroe, actually. Danny and I decided to keep our last names, just to avoid confusion at work," she clarified.

Mac then turned his attention towards the little baby that was sitting on his couch and smiling up at him. "Hello sunshine, how are you today?" he asked, taking the little girl's hands and playing with them.

"Do you know where Danny is? I know he'd like to be here when we finally and officially announce her name," she winked.

"He's somewhere in the lab. You just go on and have a look, I take care of the nameless girl here."

Lindsay didn't need to be told twice and left Mac's office, searching the lab for her beloved husband. She found him in one of the labs, with Hawkes, Adam, Stella and a girl that Lindsay didn't know, yet identified as Amy, the new girl from London. As Lindsay entered the room, she broke up whatever conversation the others were having and was greeted by all of them. Everyone gave her a hug and Danny tenderly kissed his wife. Only Amy felt left out, as she didn't know who Lindsay was.

"Lindsay Monroe, I work here as well, am on maternity leave currently," Lindsay introduced herself to Amy. She held out her hand and Amy shook it.

"Maternity leave?" Amy wondered out loud. "You don't really look like someone who's had a child recently."

Lindsay reddened and smiled. "Thank you very much, I appreciate it," she winked.

"I'm Amy Scott, by the way," Amy finally presented herself. "It's nice to meet you."

Lindsay then turned her attention towards Danny and asked: "Any chance I could borrow you for a second? Lucy's in Mac's office and I'd like to tell him now." Lindsay didn't really realize that she had just involuntarily given away her daughter's name, until everyone around her ecstatically shouted:

"Lucy?"

Stella even added: "I was wondering where you'd left your little girl. Oh Lindsay, Lucy's such a sweet name!"

"Wasn't my choice, but Danny's. I was still too weak to fight back, so I agreed. Hopefully I won't regret it in a couple of years," she winked at Danny.

"You'll never have to regret anything as long as you make me this happy," her husband said and kissed her.

Everyone started smiling seeing those two people so very much in love with each other. Even Amy, who hadn't really had any contact with Danny before and certainly not with his wife, was starting to warm up to them. They were so sweet to each other that she concluded that those must be very warm-hearted people. Danny then took Lindsay's hand, entwined his fingers with hers and led her out of the lab. He looked back at the others once more and said:

"We'll be right back, I have to save my daughter from Mac's influence now."

As those two came into Mac's office, he was holding their daughter in his hands and showed her New York City through the window. They heard him say:

"And when your mum and dad are old and can't work anymore, you will be the one to catch all the bad guys in the city."

"She will do no such thing," Danny said, resulting in Mac turning around. He smiled at Lucy's parents.

"So, what's her name now? I tried to coax it out of her, but she just wouldn't tell me," he joked.

"Well, Lucy's got a head of her own," Lindsay said.

"She sure does, she comes after her mum… Wait. Did you just say Lucy?" Mac asked.

"I think I did, didn't I, Danny?" she said, turning towards her husband. Danny smiled.

"Look Mac, we remembered you once telling us about your mum and you said her name was Lucy and so we thought… So, welcome Lucy Messer to the world."

Mac felt honoured, up to the point that he thought he would have to start crying any moment. Those two, so young and yet so in love, had given him the biggest gift of all: being godfather to Lucy Messer. He had always wanted kids with Claire, but her sudden death had made all those plans disappear. And here he was, now, holding the little wonder in his arms – the little girl that was carrying his own mother's name.

"I promise, I'll make sure she will live up to the name," he promised Danny and Lindsay and afterwards he looked down on Lucy, smiling at her and she smiled back at him. He still couldn't quite believe the gift he had gotten.

* * *

Back in the lab, there was a general feel of frustration in the air. Amy had dusted all the knives, but the only prints she could find belonged to Mrs York – it seemed as if she had done all the cooking in the house. Even the knife that was recovered from Mrs York's body had been wiped clean so that Amy hadn't been able to lift any prints off of it. Adam hadn't found any usable DNA on any of the knives. Danny had processed the fingerprints that Stella had lifted off of every possible surface in the kitchen, but the two that he had identified as not belonging to either victim had been too smeared to give a good profile. They were all distraught that once again, they had _nothing_.

"How can someone be so damn clever and leave no trace behind? Both times! One should think that he would make mistakes, no matter how tiny," Stella shouted out in anger.

Amy wanted to say that he didn't make mistakes, that he had never done, but she couldn't share that piece of information with them. Amy was starting to think that being here in New York was fruitless and that she should maybe go back to London as soon as she could. But on the other hand, she wondered whether the killer might have something else up his sleeve because he had explicitly led her here, to this city and to this team.

Their thoughts were interrupted by Don knocking on the door and coming in, a huge pile of files in his hands. He dumped those on the counter and everyone's eyes were directed towards the pile.

"All of those are unsolved cases of the last 10 years and every time, the MO is so similar to our two last cases that I'm thinking, it might be the same guy," he shared.

Just then, Mac walked into the room and stared at the huge pile of files on the counter. "That many?" he asked Don.

Don just nodded. "Of course I can't be a hundred per cent certain that it's always the same guy, but the evidence seems to point in that direction. I have 15 files here and one is on the way."

"Why is that one not here yet?" Amy asked, looking up at Don. She felt a certain rumble deep inside her stomach, something that wanted to warn her of trouble ahead.

"It's a case from 1989 and the file has not been digitalized yet. The murder happened in North Carolina, that's about all I know. The department there is sending the file over. I talked to the officer and he remembered this case. He thinks it sounds all very similar to our cases. We'll have the file tomorrow," Don told the team.

Amy was horrified. She knew, just knew, that this 1989 North Carolina case was the one she was here about and soon the rest of the team would find out as well. She had to come up with a plan, but right now, she couldn't think clearly. Her mind was foggy and she started to sweat. Don had gotten so very close to discovering her secret and tomorrow at the latest he would be able to make a connection between this 20-year-old case and the 25-year-old Amy. Her breathing started to get shallow and she felt as if she was about to pass out. She started holding on to the table because her knees became weak and she didn't know how much longer she would be able to stand upright.

Don, who had been watching Amy, saw that she had gotten pale and that she was about to break down as she had done in front of Donovan's house. He rushed over to Amy and caught her right when she started to collapse. The rest of the team gasped and Hawkes, intuitively always a doctor, ran over to check Amy's pulse. Her pulse was very low and Hawkes asked Adam to get a glass of water. Don was still holding Amy in his arms, his right hand touching her face, tenderly stroking her skin. He was whispering to her that she had better wake up. Adam passed the glass of water on to Hawkes and as soon as Amy had had a sip of water, the colour started to come back into her face. Her eyes slowly opened and the first thing she saw, were the magnificent blue eyes of Detective Donald Flack Jr. At this moment, Amy realized that she started to fall for the dark-haired man.

She gulped a couple of times and then slowly stood up. Don stayed behind her, ready to catch her should she fall down again. Mac walked over to Amy and touched her forehead.

"I did tell you to get changed. You've got a fever. Go home and get some rest," he advised her.

Amy was relieved. Mac and the rest of the team deduced her collapsing to the fever she seemed to have and for now, no-one knew the real reason for her fainting. She sure wouldn't protest now and she would go back to her hotel immediately. She planned on having left the city by the time Mac Taylor's team had read the file on her parents' murder the next day.

"I'll get you home," Don stated and crossed her plans.

"I'm fine," she tried to convince him, but neither Don nor Mac would have any of it and it was decided that Don would take her back to her hotel. There was nothing that Amy could do, so she had to submit herself to fate.

In the car, neither Amy nor Don said anything to each other and the only words being spoken, were 'right' or 'left' when Amy showed Don the way to her hotel. When they arrived, she quickly said her good-byes and got out of the car. She got her room key from the receptionist and once she was in her room, she collapsed on the bed, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. She had lost control over her plan. She had lost control over her own life.

She had just decided on a shower when she heard a quiet knock on her door. She didn't know who would come see her here, so she straightened her clothes, wiped away the tears and went to open the door, ready for whoever might be standing in front of it.

"Hey," Don said, looking down on the slightly smaller Amy. He could see that she had been crying. "I only wanted to make sure that you don't need anything. If I can get you anything from the pharmacy, just let me know," he said tenderly.

Amy showed him into the room, closing the door behind him.

"I'm fine, but somehow I'm thinking that's not really why you're here right now," she confronted him.

Don felt caught. "You really are a good detective, Amy Scott," he concluded. "You're right, that's only partially why I'm here."

"So, what do you want?" she asked him, looking up into his eyes, her face rigid, her chin pushed forward.

"What are you doing to me?" he asked quietly, his voice slightly shaking.

Amy immediately lost the rigid expression on her face and her eyes started to reveal her true feelings for Don. There was such warmth and love in them as she had never felt for anyone else.

Don looked at her and saw her eyes glistening and her mouth was slightly open. He had the sudden urge to kiss those soft lips of hers and so he did. This time, Amy answered the kiss straight away and this time, she didn't back off as she felt his tongue in her mouth. Their kiss quickly deepened and got more passionate. Amy felt Don's hands trailing down her back and then under her shirt. She shivered when she felt his hands touch her bare skin. Soon after, Don had taken off her shirt and his hands were trailing back up to unclasp her bra. He had never touched any skin as soft as hers. Slowly, he laid her down on the bed, caressing her skin. Amy started to unbutton Don's short and quickly, this item of clothing fell down on the floor as well. Both knew that what they were doing was wrong and wouldn't go without consequences, but in the heat of passion, neither one could have stopped. Only once was the kiss broken, when both took of their trousers. When Amy later felt Don inside her, she felt so happy, a feeling she had never experienced before.

* * *

While Don and Amy were making love in her hotel room, an email found its receiver. It was sent over the ocean, from as far away as London. If Don had known the content of the mail, he would have never given in to his feelings for Amy and the two of them would have never spent the night together.

Finally did Don get the answer he was waiting for from his friend in London, but he wouldn't get the mail until the next day, when he had already cheated on his girlfriend and confessed his feelings to Amy.

_Hey Don, so good to hear from you. I was surprised to find a mail from you in my inbox, but I am delighted nevertheless. Took me some time to figure out who you were talking about, but then remembered some squad room gossip about one of our CSIs. I haven't met her in person, but I was told that she is quite the smasher. You mentioning the name Tom then finally led to me making the connection. I think the person you're talking about is not called Amy Scott though. Here she is known by the name of Amélie Gerrard._

_You might want to ask her why she's pretending to be someone else._

_Should you ever find your way to New York, make sure to stop by!_

_Nick_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Oh Gosh, thank you so much for all the response I got on the last chapter! You have no idea how happy that makes me! Thanks for reviews and alerts!**_

_**And to my anonymous reviewer **__**'Someone in the wild'**__**: Yes, Don is with Jess, and I did say that he cheated on his girlfriend when he slept with Amy. This will cause some difficulties for him, but you never know where love might hide – one says it's always where you least expect it. I hope you're still going to read the story, but I did say it was Flack/OC, so this was to be expected. If you don't like that, that's totally fine and I'm happy you read till now. I hope though that you're not giving up on me and my story.**_

_**To all my other readers: Click the 'Review' button at the end and let me know what you think.**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I own nothing.**_

* * *

When Don woke up the next morning, he at first didn't quite know where he was. The room he was in was different and so was the bed. Someone's head was resting on his bare chest. All he could see from his angle was a head full of curly, blonde hair. He closed his eyes and remembered where he was and who he was with. This head did not belong to his girlfriend, but to the British mystery lady he had spent the last night with.

Amy slowly shifted on his chest, so that now Don could see her sleeping face. She was smiling, as if she was dreaming of something pleasant. Her lips were slightly swollen and he took his hand to his, feeling them and realizing that his were swollen as well from all the kissing that had been going on last night.

Don sighed quietly, shocked and appalled by what he had done last night. He had cheated on his girlfriend. And to his dismay he now remembered that he had wanted to meet up with Jess last night to figure things out, but he had stood her up again – for Amy. He cared for Jess, he knew that, but he didn't know whether he cared for her as only a friend and colleague or if there were more feelings involved.

Don didn't know what was going on with him – he normally would have never done those things, never wilfully hurt someone he cared about. But ever since Amy had come into his life, he felt like a different person. Don wasn't quite sure whether he liked the new man he had become, but he certainly felt happier than he had ever done before. Sleeping with Amy had been something special and he had never felt as much at ease with himself than he did right now, lying in bed with her and her snuggling up to him the way she did.

Don wondered whether Amy was maybe a witch, who had cast a spell on him and he considered whether he wanted that spell to be broken or not. He realized that he was slowly falling in love with Amy and he knew that this was completely irrational because he barely knew her, and yet, it felt as if he'd known her all his life – it felt as if she had been the one person he had waited for.

Amy stirred and Don lightly kissed her hair. He was so cosy right now that he hoped he would never have to get up again. But as it is with most wishes, they will never come true – and so it happened that the atmosphere was disturbed by his phone ringing. He had to get up to answer it and so, when he did, he woke Amy up in the process. She rubbed her eyes and watched Don stand next to the bed, rummaging around in his trousers. She felt happy right now, still a little drowsy with sleep and yet, she didn't know when she had slept that well for the last time. Maybe it had been the satisfaction you normally felt after sex, she wondered. Watching Don in the middle of her hotel room, talking to someone on the phone, still naked from the night before – it just felt so right, as if this was the real purpose of Amy's life – to be happy with this man. She hoped that they would have a chance, but she doubted it – there were so many things unspoken between them and she wasn't sure that he would accept all the things she had kept from him.

"I got to go," Don said after having hung up the phone. He pulled on his trousers and put on his shirt, not looking back at Amy. The precinct had been on the phone, telling him that the file he had been waiting for was lying on his desk. He was happy for this distraction – it would buy him a little bit of time to clear up his mind.

"Ok," was all that Amy said, still lying in bed, covering herself up with the blanket.

When Don was fully dressed, he walked towards the door. When he opened it, he looked back at her one more time and said: "Guess I'll see you at work later."

Amy nodded and he left, closing the door behind him. She groaned and fell back on the pillow. She knew she couldn't go back to work, she had to leave town as quickly as possible. She would come back when it had all blown up and the dust had settled a bit. Maybe, some time in the future, she and Don Flack would have a chance.

* * *

Don arrived at the precinct and walked directly toward his desk, where a single file was lying on it. He sat down and opened it, but didn't get any further because Jess walked towards him.

"Aren't those the clothes you've been wearing yesterday?" she simply asked.

Don didn't know what to say, he knew that she was fuming for having been stood up again. "Look, Jess…" he started, but was immediately interrupted by her.

"I have a big case on my hands today, so I really don't want to hear your crappy excuses right now. I also know that setting a date with you won't be a good idea – you'll be a no-show anyway. So honestly, I have no idea what to do with you at the moment. I suggest we just don't talk to each other for a while. Avoidance is the key," she said and left.

Don took a deep breath and started on reading the file. He didn't know what to do about either Jess or Amy at the moment and so he decided to bury himself with work.

The case file was really old and the papers inside already yellowed. It was all typed with a typewriter – work in times when computers hadn't existed yet.

The murdered couple had been Céline and Ian Silverman from Raleigh, North Carolina. They had been found murdered in their own kitchen, both stabbed multiple times in back and chest. Their bodies had been discovered by one of their neighbours, Kendra Jennings and her husband Jim. They had left a 5-year-old daughter, Amélie, behind. There had been no real suspects and because forensics had barely existed back then, the case had never been closed.

Don had to admit that it all sounded as if this had been the killer's first victims. Between this murder and the next Don could find, there had been more or less exactly ten years. So what had happened in those ten years? Had there been more victims that Don didn't know of?

Don was already up to go find Mac, when he realized the little blinking envelop symbol on the desktop of his computer. At that moment, he had already forgotten about his friend in London and he hadn't expected an answer back from him. So much more surprised was he now to find an answer in his inbox.

Reading through the mail made his blood boil. He was shocked to now have proof of Amy's lies to him and to the whole team. _Amélie Gerrard_, he murmured. He couldn't believe that it was a coincidence – her showing up here in New York where Deputy Inspector Stanton Gerrard had worked and lived all those years. Then Don remembered that the five-year-old girl's name in the North Carolina case from 1989 had been Amélie as well. Don quickly did the maths and then got up and stormed off in the direction of the crime lab.

* * *

_**I**__** know this one is short in comparison to my other ones, but it'll take us right into action. Stay tuned for Amy's story – you can read it tomorrow!**_

_**And now, even though this one is short, click the review button! Thanks. :)**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Hello everyone, welcome to the story of Amy's life.**_

_**As promised, here we go with the revelation of her secrets.**_

_**Thanks to everyone for having read, alerted and reviewed till now and I promise that there is a le more to come. The story of Don and Amy is not yet finished.**_

_**Read and Review – let me know what you think!**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I own nothing.**_

* * *

Amy was meanwhile busy packing in her hotel room. She didn't know about the events unfolding in the crime lab and police department, but she had had a vague idea that something like that was going to happen that day. She sighed and sat down on the bed. She looked down on her almost packed bag and she felt sadness rush over her. She didn't want to leave town, but she had to. She knew she would get a lot of problems with the police and especially with some of its detectives. She had risked their investigation for her own selfish goals and she doubted that Detective Taylor or Don would be fine with that. So, she had decided to skip town for a little while, go back to London and then come back when their urge to kill her had settled down a bit.

Amy was woken up from her reveries by a knock on the door. She thought it might be the receptionist because Amy had called down and asked for her bill – they had wanted to bring it up to her room for her. So Amy got up from the bed and opened the door. She stared right into the faces of two extremely pissed of New York detectives.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Mac immediately started ranting. Amy felt intimidated and thought it would be best to sit back down on the bed and say nothing till he was done. She didn't dare look up at Don either, because she could imagine the look in his eyes and she wasn't too sure that she could bear it.

"Don't you think you owe us an explanation?" Mac continued. "You put all our asses on the line with your selfishness. And why the hell did you think you could do something to help? Are you insane?" Mac took a deep breath and turned away from Amy. He was so angry that he wasn't sure he would be able to control his anger any longer, and looking at Amy, who was sitting on the bed like a little girl that gets a piece of her dad's angry mind, made him even more furious.

"Say something, explain yourself!" he yelled at her.

Amy finally looked up, first at Don and then at Mac. Don's face was averted – he was clearly avoiding her gaze. Mac stared at her, waiting for an explanation and about to explode.

"I'm sorry," was all she could say. Amy felt tears coming into her eyes and she had a hard time fighting them back. She didn't want either one of them to see her crying – that satisfaction she didn't want to give to them.

"That's all you have to say?" Don finally said. "Don't you think you owe me a little more than that?" Mac looked first at Don and then at Amy – he had picked up on Don's use of 'me' instead of 'us' and he wondered what had been going on between those two in the last couple of days.

"How about making it easiest for me and you guys tell me what you already know and then I'll fill you in on the rest?" Amy offered.

"No," Mac demanded. "I want the whole story, from your perspective."

"Not much to tell really," Amy started. "My parents were killed in our kitchen when I was just five," she stated matter-of-factly, resulting in Mac and Don thinking there were no emotions inside this girl.

"We were about to have dinner and I was already wearing my pyjamas. I always had to because else, they would have never gotten me into bed. I played 'Hide and Seek' with my dad. It was his turn to find me and my mum helped me out with a good hiding place – the kitchen cabinet. Then the doorbell rang and my mum told me to stay in the cabinet and not to open the door. I still remember her voice, as clear as day. It was fierce and I knew not to contradict my mum when she had that tone of voice. So I stayed where I was. I can't tell how much time went by, but then I heard my mum scream and then my dad. I pressed my hands on my ears and stayed in the cabinet. A little while later, hours, maybe minutes, I came out and they were dead. I can still see the blood everywhere."

At this point Amy stopped and wiped away a single tear that came rolling down her cheek. It had been a while since she had to tell this story and she wasn't quite prepared for the feelings it would bring back up to the surface. Mac saw the tears in her eyes and on her cheeks and still, he urged her to go on and she did:

"I didn't know what to do – hell, I was only five! I ran outside and almost into a car. Jim and Kendra picked me up from that street."

"Mr and Mrs Jennings?" Mac asked, remembering the police report.

"Yes. They were our neighbours and I had never seen them before, until that night. We had only moved in about two weeks before. I didn't know anyone yet. Kendra took me by the hand and went to check on my parents. She found them in the kitchen and called 911." Amy looked at Don and she could see that he was moved by her story. He didn't want to show it, but she could see that he was sorry for her.

"Everything after that is a little hazy, to be honest. A five-year-old doesn't really pick up on that much, I'm afraid," she apologized because she couldn't tell them about anything else that had happened that night.

"That's ok. How about now telling us what brought you to New York?" Mac wanted to know the most important part of the story.

"I had no family and so the Jennings took me in. Child services were happy to get me off the street and they allowed me staying at the Jennings' house. Kendra and Jim were so sorry for me. They felt obliged to care for me and look after me, even though all they had known of my parents were their dead bodies on our kitchen floor. I then grew up there with their son Tom. He's still my best friend. Or let's say – he's more like a brother than a friend. He works with me for the London crime lab." Amy thought she owed that last piece of information about Tom to Don because she remembered that he had overheard a phone conversation between her and Tom. Deep down she hoped that Don might still forgive her after everything she'd done.

"How did you get to New York?" Mac asked again.

"You know, all those years my single goal in life was to get my parents' murderer. Tom was always more than happy to help and so we decided to both become CSIs. We were young and foolish and thought we could rule the world together. Suffice to say, we couldn't. At some point, Tom gave up and started concentrating on the real world and his job in London. I couldn't give up that easily. And eventually, I ended up here in New York. I heard about the murder, thought it all sounded so familiar and here I am now." Amy knew that she was again lying to Mac. She just couldn't tell him about the notes and newspaper articles the killer had always sent her. Amy thought that when she revealed this now, she would never get a chance to find him herself. All she was willing to give up was the faint outline of her story.

"So, Miss Amélie Gerrard," Don confronted her with her real name. "Is it a coincidence that we had a Deputy Inspector Gerrard in our force?" he asked provokingly.

"No, it's not," Amy answered.

"Wait, you said that the Jennings took you in because you had no family. You're _still _lying to us!" Mac exclaimed.

"I'm not!" Amy tried to defend herself. "By that time, I didn't even know he existed and neither did he know that there was a 'me'!"

Mac and Don looked at each other, puzzled faces. "Care to elaborate?" Don asked.

"He had never approved of my mum marrying my dad and so he cast her away when she insisted on the marriage. I was always told that my grandfather, my mum's dad, was dead. He was never told that I was born. When he heard about his daughter's death, he also heard about me, but didn't care. No-one told _me_ about _him_ though. When I was fifteen, he was suddenly standing in front of our door, claiming me back. I told him to screw himself and shut the door in his face. He never wanted me, he would never get me, at least that's what I swore myself," Amy explained her strained relationship with her grandfather, Deputy Inspector Stanton Gerrard.

"So you've had no contact with him since you were fifteen?" Mac explored further.

"Not necessarily true," Amy had to admit. "I came to New York and I had the plan to join your team, didn't know how though. So I went to see him in jail, told him all about it and he said he would make sure that it would work out. I don't know what he did, but only hours later, Sinclair called me and said that he would arrange for everything to work out just as I had planned. I don't know what happened between him and my grandfather and to be honest, I don't really care. I just thought that grandpa owed this one favour to me."

"I never liked him, always knew he was crooked," Don confessed. "And I already thought so before he shot that rapist in the head and ended up in Rikers."

"And that is all," Amy now swore, looking intently at Mac. He still wasn't convinced, but he also had no way of proving that she still kept something from him and Don.

"So what will happen now?" Amy asked carefully.

"_We _will finish this case, _without_ you! You stay in New York until you've given your report to protocol," Mac enlightened her, pointing towards Amy's bag on the floor. "But I swear, if I ever see you near my lab again…" he started to threaten Amy with consequences.

"Don't worry, you won't," Amy assured him, meekly looking down on the floor. She could understand Mac's harsh decision – he had to make sure that his lab and its work wasn't further questioned.

Mac then turned around to leave the room, everything being said that had to be said. He now finally knew what had been going on with Amy. On the one hand, he could understand her and her decision to go after her parents' murderer. She needed the closure and he couldn't really hold it against her. He had been a CSI for long enough to know that some cases just go under your skin and you do everything in your power to solve them, especially those cases that were personal. But on the other hand, he couldn't understand how someone trained as a CSI could be so foolish as to jeopardize a whole investigation like that. She had to know that all the evidence she had been around could be expelled from court. For Mac, this showed clearly that she didn't honour the badge she was wearing, an attitude he had always despised of.

Before leaving the room, he looked round to Don, too see whether the NYPD detective was following him. Don motioned for Mac to already go and that he would be out in just a second. When Mac left, only Don and Amy were left behind. Amy looked up at Don and she was shocked by the expression in his eyes – she could read anger, disappointment, but also hatred in them.

"What was this last night for you? Just one way of fooling with all of us? I see your bags are packed, so you thought that sex would be enough as a goodbye?" Don confronted her, the anger clear in his voice. He was almost shouting at Amy and she started to feel even worse.

"That is not what this was," she tried to tell him, her voice stifled by tears, which were now running openly down her cheeks. Don had hit her with his words and she was hurt. But she could understand him and would never hold it against him.

"Then what was it?" Don wanted to know.

"You were standing in front of me and then you kissed me and I have never felt so… alive in my entire life!" she let him know. "This was so special to me, you have no idea."

"Looks like I don't. I risked my life, my career, my future and my relationship with Jess for you. I'm such an idiot, I can't believe it," he said, more to himself than to Amy.

Don had already turned towards the door, when Amy spoke up one last time, her voice shaking. "I'm so sorry Don. I didn't mean for this to happen, but you just swept me off my feet," she confessed.

"And _you _just lost my respect," Don said and left the room.

* * *

Amy was left alone in her room. She had never felt this alone and empty before. She stared down at her bag and considered running. If she would leave New York now, for a destination yet unknown, she would have a little bit of time to sort herself out. Maybe then, after a while, she could return and earn Don's respect back. But she wasn't so sure of that. He seemed determined to hate her for the rest of his life and she couldn't even be angry at him for that. She certainly deserved to be treated that way.

There was another knock on the door and Amy really hoped that it was the receptionist this time and not Don, who had come back to yell at her some more.

She opened the door and was relieved to see that it really was a hotel employee. She was handed her bill and another envelop, a note that had arrived for her this morning. Amy thanked that young woman and closed the door. She walked back over to the bed, sat down and opened the note.

Inside was a single sheet of paper, computer-typed. It read:

"_Hope you had fun screwing that guy last night."_

Amy gasped and let the paper fall on the floor. She rushed to the window and looked out. There were several buildings on the other side of the street, every single one of them would qualify as a good observation post. She couldn't believe that he had been watching her, but she guessed that she should have expected him to pull a stunt like that.

Even when minutes before she had been resolved to leave town, she now decided that she would stay right here and she would find him and fight him. He would regret ever having killed her parents – Amy would make sure of that.

* * *

_**Click the review button, readers/lurkers – anything I can improve on? Or do you maybe like the story/the chapter? Let me know!**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Thank you all for the feedback on the last t**__**wo chapters. I'm happy you liked what I made of Amy's story.**_

_**Now, prepared for what there is to come next?**_

_**Read and Review – let me know what you think!**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** Sadly, I own nothing…**_

* * *

Back at the precinct, Don was sitting at his desk, his head held low. Surely, Amy's story and her past had moved him deep down, but she had also lied to him. Don wasn't sure whether such a past justified her behaviour in the present. She did look broken, sitting there on her hotel bed, the blanket still dishevelled from the night before. When he had seen her crying, he had had the sudden urge to walk over to her and take her in his strong arms, assure her that everything would be alright. But then he remembered that she had used him for her own selfish purposes and he had stayed where he was, at the other end of the room, as far away from her as possible. He wasn't certain that he could believe her confession – that he had swept her off her feet and that her feelings for him were genuine – it might have been just another ploy to save her own ass. Don thought that in the end it all came down to one thing: he simply couldn't trust her and wasn't sure whether he ever could.

* * *

Amy was still in her hotel room, unpacking all her things again when her cell phone rang. She had a look at the caller ID and saw that it was Tom calling from London. He always seemed to sense when she was in trouble and always had the perfect timing for his calls and visits.

"Hey Tommy," Amy greeted him, her voice rather sad.

"What's up, Pumpkin?" Tom immediately wanted to know, alarmed by the sound in her voice.

"It all blew up in my face," she exclaimed, tears running down her cheeks. She had never had a problem crying in front of her quasi-brother.

"Your plan didn't quite work out, did it?"

"No," she said meekly.

"I told you that it was a stupid idea, but I was talking to a wall. You really are stubborn, I have to notice time and again, 'sis," Tom told her. They had both started calling each other brother and sister when they were 10 and in front of strangers, they normally sticked to the story of them being blood relatives because the truth would be too sad and shocking for others.

"Please, just please don't tell me 'I told you so'. I really couldn't bear that at the moment," she cried.

"Look, I don't want to upset you any further and I wish I could do this in person, but I can't," Tom started.

"What is wrong? Are Kendra and Jim alright?" Amy asked, alarmed.

"They are fine, don't worry. But I had a talk with our boss this morning."

Amy knew that nothing good could come out of a talk like this. "And?" she asked, hesitating, not sure whether she really wanted to know the answer.

"He's letting you go," Tom confessed. Amy took a deep breath, but didn't answer, so Tom continued: "Apparently he got a call from some detective in New York and he was told all about your stay there." Tom was silent after this, waiting for Amy to say something. But she didn't.

"Ames? Come on, say something," He tried to coax something out of her.

"I'm fired, Tom. What is there to say?" she finally said.

"We've been through so much, this is only a tiny rock on the path. You're not alone with this, Amy," he gave his support.

"But I am," she said and hung up.

Amy wondered which one of the detectives it had been to call her boss in London. Both Mac and Don were certainly angry enough to make such a call. Her future was now officially ruined. This would appear on any job reference and no-one would give her a job as a CSI ever again. Resolutely, Amy got up and decided that even though her career was ruined, she would make this loss worthwhile by finally finding this serial killer.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mac was standing in one of the conference rooms in the crime lab, holding a folder in his hand and looking at the faces of his entire team. He had gathered them there to fill them in on the latest discoveries.

"So, she was actually following her own agenda the whole time?" Stella wanted to know, after Mac had finished his report.

"Yes, she was," Mac stated.

"Unbelievable, the prettiest ones are always the most dangerous. My mom _did_ warn me when I was younger. Wish I had listened to her more often," Adam mumbled.

Even Hawkes was completely shocked and surprised – he had honestly started to like Amy and her quirky and mysterious ways. Never had he expected her secret to be this large and heavy. He couldn't say anything to Mac's revelation and so he simply shook his head in disbelief.

Lindsay and Danny looked at each other. Both hadn't known Amy that well and she had seemed nice on their last visit.

"So, what now?" Stella asked Mac.

"I told her to stay in New York till the case is wrapped up, but she isn't to come near the lab again. I called her boss in London and he's letting her go," Mac informed all of them.

"Isn't that all a bit harsh, Mac?" Stella carefully wanted to know.

"No, it's not, Stella. She compromised the integrity of the lab and that is the most important thing for us!" he shouted.

Stella was silent for a minute, knowing that there was no arguing with Mac about the integrity of the lab – he had said more than once that he valued it more than anything else in the world. She could understand his harshness, but she also knew that she herself would have been a little easier on Amy – probably because both seemed to share troubled childhoods.

The rest of the team started mumbling and the attention shifted away from Mac. They were discussing Amy and her past and how no-one of them would have thought her possible of doing such a reckless thing. Hawkes, always concerned with other people's well-being, asked Mac:

"But she does understand now that she has to stop those solitary ways? She must know that she can't find this guy all on her own." Hawkes took a look at the others and Danny and Lindsay were both nodding at him, supporting his concern for Amy.

"I think she knows," Mac said, indicating that he was not sure and that with Amy, probably no-one could be a hundred per cent certain that she understood the danger she put herself in. Catching her parents' murderer had been her agenda for so long – Mac somehow knew that it was impossible for her to give it up just yet. But there was nothing he could do but to find the killer himself and put him behind bars. That might give Amy the closure she desperately sought for.

* * *

Amy was restlessly wandering through the streets of New York City, without any particular place she was steering to. She didn't know what to do next, was at a loss for what to do next with her own future. On the one hand she just wanted to find the pervert and be done with the whole business. But she feared that afterwards, her life might not have a purpose anymore and she could fall down into a really deep and black hole, without any chance of ever getting back out. Her work, which had been her anchor till now, was gone as well. She felt rootless and didn't know how to change that. She hoped that going for a walk might clear her head, but all she did was think and wonder, so that this walk seemed to put her mind into an even worse state.

At the same time, there was someone else restlessly roaming the streets of New York City. Don had left the police department because he imagined everyone staring at him, as if all of a sudden they all knew what kind of a fool he had been with Amy. Deep down he was certain that this was complete rubbish, but he simply couldn't kill the feeling. He was now walking towards his favourite diner, hoping that a decent cup of coffee might sort him out. Inside, he ordered and walked over to one of the window booths. Someone else had left a newspaper on the table, so that Don started reading while sipping his coffee. His reading was not very productive because at the end of a sentence, he couldn't remember its beginning. It gave him something to do though, and so he systematically started going through all of the articles. He was glad for the distraction because for only just a few minutes, he wasn't thinking about Amy.

* * *

In the meantime, Mac was standing in front of Chief Sinclair's office, resolutely knocking on the door. Without waiting to be called inside, he opened the door and waltzed in. Sinclair was just on the phone, but told his caller that he would have to call him back and then stared at Mac.

"You want to tell me what this is about?" he asked.

"Amélie Gerrard," was all that Mac revealed.

Sinclair grunted and sat back in his chair. "So, you know," he simply stated the facts.

"I do indeed. My whole team does. Just thought I'd let you know," Mac informed him.

"That was very considerate of you, Mac," Sinclair ironically replied. "Anything else?"

"What does Gerrard have on you?" Mac blurted out.

"Nothing," was the simple answer.

"He can't possibly blackmail you with 'nothing'. Brigham, what is it?" Mac tried to dig deeper.

"Mac, leave it."

"Look Brigham, your stubbornness is not getting you anywhere. All it results in, is me losing my respect for you. Fatal, isn't it?" Mac said and left the room without waiting for an answer. At some point, he was sure of that, he would find out what was going on between Gerrard and Sinclair. One thing was certain though: it had to be something with a heavy weight because even though Stanton was in prison, he still had the higher hand over Brigham.

* * *

Amy's walk through New York City led her past the diner that Don himself was sitting in. She observed him from a couple of feet away, him being unaware that he was watched. Amy thought that Don looked sad and tired and she wished that this all wouldn't have been her fault. She really had started to care for Don, but had ruined everything that there might have blossomed between those two.

Determinately Amy walked towards the diner door. She would tell Don now and for the last time that she had feelings for him and after that it would be up to him to act on that or never see her again.

Just as Amy walked through the door, Don looked up from his paper and saw her entering the diner. She was marching straight to his table and positioned herself in front of it like a warrior about to enter war. She was here on a mission, but he wasn't really interested in what she had to say. Just as Amy opened her mouth, he got up and walked past her towards the counter, to pay for his coffee.

"You stubborn mule!" Amy shouted out, not caring that all the heads in the diner turned towards her, eager to see what was going on.

Amy had certainly gotten Don's attention now and he turned around, money in his hand. "What did you just call me?"

"I believe it was a stubborn mule because that's what you are!" she screamed at him.

"Are you completely out of your mind now?" Don asked in disbelief.

"No, I think I was never as clear-minded as I am right now. For Heaven's sake, I told you this morning that you swept me off my feet, I basically served you my heart on a silver platter and all you did was walk away!" Amy knew that her voice was so loud that she served as mass entertainment for the whole diner. No-one seemed to mind though and the first bets were placed on whether the guy would kiss the hot girl at the end or walk away again.

"You know why I walked away? Because you are a lying and manipulative bitch," he blurted out.

Amy gasped. "Lying, I understand. I know that I did it, but don't you think I had my reasons? But no-one has_ EVER_ called me manipulative before! Do I have to remind you that it was _you _who kissed me first in the lobby? And it was also _you _standing in front of my door last night, literally begging me to have sex with you!"

Now it was Don's time to gasp and he was not alone – everyone in the diner did so, too. "I'm not listening to the crap," Don then said, threw his money on the counter, didn't bother to wait for change and left.

Amy ran after him. "Hey, I'm _not _done with you, yet!" But Don didn't listen and he walked on, in the direction of the precinct. Amy was about to follow when her phone rang. She wouldn't have bothered with it, but she thought, or hoped rather, that it might be Tom telling her that she could have her job back after all. So she answered and the few words the caller said before hanging up again, made her scream for Don, in the middle of the street.

Amy's scream petrified Don and it cut him to the quick. Without thinking about it, he ran back to where Amy was standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What happened?" he asked, clearly worried.

Amy needed a couple of seconds to find the right words and all she could do at first was point towards her cell phone. Don had no idea what to make of that and looked at her, puzzled.

"Amy," he pressed again.

"Don, that was _him_," she said and Don immediately knew who she was talking about.

"What did he want?"

"He was nice enough to let me know that I would be next," Amy said.

"Next for what?" Don wondered.

"Next for what he's best at – next for killing," was all that Amy said before she fainted into Don's arms.

* * *

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	14. Chapter 14

_**Thank you so much for your feedback, it really does mean a lot to me! I hope you keep that up and after this chapter you'll also let me know what you think!**_

_**Note on previous chapter: I did get some PMs on my last chapter and the fact that Don called Amy 'a manipulative bitch'. Some thought that was too harsh and Don would never say something like that. I did ponder over this before posting, but then I thought that in fights, things normally are said that you regret later. And in this particular case, Don's heart is on the line and I think, not every lovers' quarrel is a fare game. So, basically, sorry if I have offended anyone, that was not my intention!  
**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I own nothing, really.**_

_**Now enjoy, read and review!**_

* * *

Don was sitting on the sidewalk, fanning air into Amy's face, desperately trying to wake her up. A big group of people had already gathered around them and someone asked Don whether he should call an ambulance. Just as Don was about to say yes, Amy opened her eyes.

"Again?" she asked him, her voice faint.

"Again," Don answered. "When was the last time you had something to eat?"

"I honestly can't remember," Amy confessed, slowly struggling to get back on her own two feet.

"You have to eat something and you have to stop doing this. I'm not always around to catch you," Don said, steadying Amy as she slowly got up. Then he noticed that the crowd of people was still watching and he waved at them. "Everything's under control now, thanks for your help though."

The people dispersed and Don was left behind with Amy, whose knees were still extremely weak. She just prayed that they would hold her now.

"Let's go see Mac," she decided.

"What?" Don asked, lost.

"I think the only right thing to do now is to tell him. He might be able to track my last caller. I can't do this alone anymore, Don. It's simply eating me up. I no longer have the power to fight him myself," she gave up.

Don looked at her, tenderness in his eyes. He certainly felt his heart flying in Amy's direction, but was still holding it back on a string, afraid that it might get broken too easily.

"Then let's take you to Mac," he announced.

In the lobby of the crime scene building, both, Amy and Don, bumped into Jess. She only had to look at them – Don close to Amy, holding her arm, afraid she might collapse again in his arms and Amy leaning against Don, enjoying being so close to him.

Don spotted Jess as they walked towards the elevator and wanted to say something, but she was faster. "Don't Don. I know when I've lost," she said and left the building, simply ending their relationship in passing. Don wasn't sure whether he should be hurt or relieved about that. He knew that things with Jess could no longer continue the way they had been, now that he knew Amy. But it still stung a little that he had been polished off just like that. But then again, he simply couldn't hold it against Jess, after everything he'd put her through those past couple of days.

In the elevator up to the 35th floor, Amy and Don didn't talk, she simply rejoiced in being so close to him without being pushed away. In the crime lab, both marched up to Mac in his office. He himself was not pleased when he saw that Amy was coming towards him. As soon as she was in his office, followed by Don, Mac blurted out:

"Didn't I warn you not to come near the lab again?"

All Amy could do was to stare at Mac – she hadn't expected so much hostility from him. Even though she could understand his feelings, she also felt hurt and personally attacked.

"Mac," Don started.

"What's going on here?" Mac then demanded an explanation from Don, by now completely ignoring Amy.

"The killer called her and she did the only right thing she could – she came here to tell _you_," Don defended Amy.

Mac immediately felt sorry for the harshness he had greeted her with. He tried to make it up to her now by asking in a more considerate tone of voice: "What did he want?"

"Threatened to kill me," Amy let him know, her voice sounding so neutral as if your life got threatened on a daily basis and it was a completely normal thing to happen.

Mac took a deep breath and tried to digest the killer's newest announcement. He knew that he had to start acting aggressively against him now because obviously, the killer had no idea when a line was crossed.

"Thanks for letting me know. I'll need your number – maybe we can track the call," he started plotting.

"That's what I thought," Amy shared.

"One more thing," Mac said before he left his office for the computer lab. "There had better be nothing else you're hiding or I'll kick your little ass all the way back to Britain!"

"Erm…,"Amy hesitated.

"What?" Mac wanted to know.

"There might be something else," she admitted, looking at Don. He was just staring at her in disbelief. He had started to trust her and one more time, she punched him in the guts again, with more things she had kept from him.

"Ok, what else is there and I swear, this will be the last time I'm going to ask," Mac replied.

Amy told them about the newspaper articles the killer had always sent her when he had just committed a murder again. She then told them about the infrequent notes she had gotten.

"I want you to get them, now. We're going to need them here for processing," Mac let her know.

Amy turned around and left the lab without another word. She thought it wise to leave immediately, before Don and Mac could get really angry again.

Mac left the office behind Amy, stopping in the hallway to see her take the elevator. "You think someone should have gone with her, to make sure she's really getting the notes?" he wondered out loud.

"She'll be just fine," Don said, disappointed with Amy for her latest betrayal.

Mac saw the mixed emotions on Don's face and beckoned him back into his office because he didn't want to discuss Don's private life in the hallway, for everyone to hear.

"Don, for the sake of this investigation, I need to know what's going on between you and Amy," he confronted the tall and dark-haired detective.

"Nothing Mac," Don answered, not wanting to share anything right now.

But Mac didn't stick to his guns and asked again: "Don, you can tell me. I'm only asking…"

"...for the sake of the investigation, I know." Don groaned. "We had sex," he caved.

Mac just looked at Don and then patted him on the shoulder. "I hope it was worth it," he said and left his office.

* * *

Just as Amy was about to leave the building, she was held back by someone grabbing her arm – it was Chief Brigham Sinclair. He had a threatening look on his face and hissed:

"You and your grandfather can't blackmail me any longer and I know from Mac that your little trick already blew up. You're not a threat anymore. I advise you to leave the city as soon as possible and you had better never come back. I'll make sure of that," and he left, leaving a confused Amy behind.

* * *

_Back in the lab_

Hawkes, Stella and Adam were sitting in midst of a paper chaos. They had meticulously sorted through all of the files that Don had brought to the lab, trying to find the common denominator in all of these cases. They were hoping that these had something in common and that the killer didn't choose his victims at random. If he did, it would be a really hard task to find him.

They especially concentrated on the murder of Amy's parents. Mac had told them that throughout all of these years, the killer had sought Amy's contact, time and again. The fact that this case seemed to be the first one in the series also indicated that it was a special and important one. The other couples had to have something in common with Amy's parents.

"Only three of those couples had children, so I think we can rule out that Amy is the thread that weaves it all together," Adam said.

"What we can say though, is that all of these couple seemed to have only just moved into the respective neighbourhood and then they were killed. But why? The killer has a new-neighbour-fetish?" Hawkes wondered.

"Sheldon, your guess is as good as mine," Stella sighed. "So I guess we just have to wait for the notes that Amy has. Maybe we can extract some DNA or fingerprints. Remind me," she said and turned towards Adam, "that we take Amy's fingerprints as well, so we can eliminate hers from others. I mean, she's handled all the notes and I doubt she has been wearing gloves all the time."

Stella felt frustrated. No matter what the team did and no matter how much time they put into this investigation, it seemed to lead nowhere. Those were always the most infuriating cases for her because the longer she had to work on them, the more personally involved did she become. And now that she knew that all this was directly related to Amy, whom she had already gotten used to as part of the team, she was even more determined to get to the bottom of all this.

"So, what do we do now?" Adam asked his superior.

"Guess we sit back and twiddle our thumbs," Hawkes suggested.

"No," Stella demanded. "We go over all of the evidence again, till we are sure that we didn't miss anything."

She then got up and left the room, followed by Adam and Hawkes.

* * *

Amy arrived at her hotel and took her room key from the receptionist. She only quickly wanted to get the notes and then walk back to the crime lab immediately. She had already wasted so much time, she didn't want to lose any more. She by now realized that those notes and articles were enormously important pieces of evidence and that she had been so foolish for keeping them to herself. She knew that because her sole focus in life had been on her parents' murder, she had lost all connection to what was right and wrong. She was determined to change that now and become a better person.

Amy walked into her room and closed the door. She felt a sudden and dull pain on her head and after that, the whole world turned black.

* * *

Don was pacing up and down in the lobby of the crime lab building. The CSIs were doing their jobs up there and he had nothing that he could do at the moment. He was trained in catching and interviewing perps, but the forensic side of things had never appealed to him. He was now wondering what took Amy so long to get back with her notes. She had already been gone for an hour and he was sure that she hadn't snuck in without him noticing. He had been standing in front of the elevator for the last half hour and there was no way she voluntarily took all the steps up to the 35th floor.

Don had to admit that he was getting slightly worried – maybe Amy had decided to leave town after all? Maybe she had taken the notes – their own solid evidence at this point – with her and left them all to themselves again? He somehow couldn't think that she would be that stupid again, but he couldn't rule it out either.

Don got tired of waiting, so he decided to check on Amy and stop by the hotel to make sure that she hadn't left. If he missed her, he at least would know for certain that she hadn't checked out of her hotel.

A little later, he arrived at the hotel and asked the receptionist for Miss Amy Scott's room number. He still knew the number from last night, but he thought that it might be his safest chance to find out whether she was still a guest here. The receptionist was happy to comply with his demand and looked her up in the computer. The number he then got was the same as yesterday, so she hadn't left. He decided to walk up to her room, just to be safe that everything was alright. He felt a little twinge in his stomach – the gut feeling people normally talk about when they think that something might be wrong, but they can't exactly pinpoint what.

He came to her room and knocked on the door. As he still got no answer after the third knock, he tried his luck by knocking and calling Amy's name at the same time. But again, no-one answered the door. Don wondered whether he might have really just missed her and tried the doorknob, just to be sure.

The door had not been closed and he walked into the room. Immediately did he pick up on the so familiar smell – blood.

He stared down on the bed and noticed the enormous pool of blood on and in front of it – and he gasped. Frantically, he started to search the reminder of the room and the bathroom, calling for Amy. Only before he turned around to leave the room and call Mac, he saw the wall that was covered by the open door.

Don closed the door and stared at the gruesome picture in front of him. Written in trickling blood, dropping down the wall and on the floor, was:

_She's mine now._

* * *

_**Sadly, I now have to leave you hanging with this for a while. I have a very busy weekend ahead of me and I don't think I'll manage to update my story till Monday. So, please, have mercy on me and don't be too angry for not updating the next couple of days.**_

_**I'll try my best, and maybe I can manage to throw in a small chapter, but no promises.**_

_**And now, click the little green button – I'm waiting for your feedback!**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Hello everyone!**_

_**I'm back after a very long and stressful weekend. Lack of sleep over the past couple of weeks has knocked me out today and I'm forced to stay in – no way am I going to make it to Uni like this. Anyway, I took the time to finally update my story again.**_

_**Thanks for the reviews and alerts! Normally I reply to any review I get but I lost track of which ones I already replied to and so, take this as your big 'Thank you'! Keep it up with the reviews, you all know you want to!**_

_**Disclaimer**__**: Unfortunately, all I own is Amy.**_

* * *

Her eyes were closed and so she could not see the darkness that was surrounding her. There was an old and musty smell in the room and it seemed as if no-one had been here for ages. Slowly, Amy opened her eyes. It took her a while to adjust to the darkness. She had no idea where she was. All she knew was that it was cold and dark. And it smelled poorly. Amy tried to stir, maybe find a way out of this god-forsaken place, but as she tried to sit up, she felt a stinging pain in her lower abdomen. Her hand automatically went down to feel what was wrong and even though Amy couldn't see anything, she could feel the thickly fluid on her hands – it had to be blood. Amy groaned and sank back down to the floor, trying to come up with a plan to get out of here.

She knew she was injured, had no idea why and when this happened. The last thing she remembered was being in her room, closing the door and then she felt a thud on her head. After that, she was unconscious and woke up again in here. Amy had a faint idea who it might have been that abducted her. After the threats she had received, she simply guessed that she was now in the hands of the very same man who had killed her parents 20 years ago.

Amy tried to fight back the tears and the desperation she began to feel. She had no idea where she was and no-one would ever come to find her here. Amy felt as if she was practically already dead. The whole CSI team hated her and Don sure as hell wouldn't come to look for her. They probably all assumed that she skipped town after all. Amy felt sure that she was going to die in this hole.

She mentally went through everything she knew about this man and had to realize that it was close to nothing. She didn't even have the faintest clue where he might be hiding her. _This is one hell of a mess, _she said to herself.

* * *

In the meantime, the whole team was processing Amy's room. Don had immediately called them to the hotel and they were now vigorously searching for clues that might reveal the killer's trail.

Stella had just swabbed the blood on the floor when she discovered the box of letters, newspaper articles and notes under the bed.

"Look what I found," she said, turning around to the rest of the team.

"Brilliant. Maybe those are exactly what we need," Hawkes replied.

"I'm going to take those back to the lab to Adam. I want him to run DNA immediately. And he will also have to confirm that this blood belongs to Amy," Stella continued.

"But we don't have a reference sample," Danny noted.

"But if this DNA is female, I think we can conclude that it really is Amy's. That's all we can do," she remarked.

Stella took the box and some evidence bags with her and left the room. Danny and Hawkes were left behind. Danny was processing the bathroom, hoping to find the killer's DNA in the basin. He was thinking that with all the blood here, he must have gotten some on his hands and washed them afterwards. Danny knew that it was a very long shot, but desperate situations called for desperate measures, or so he thought. Hawkes, at the same time, was processing the door lock. He was wondering how the killer got into the room. The receptionist said that she hadn't seen anyone come in or go, but Mac was just now taking a look at the security camera footage. Hawkes dusted all surfaces for prints and took some that he believed to be Amy's as reference samples for the lab.

"We are so thick sometimes," Danny shouted out, coming out of the bathroom, holding a brush in his hand.

"The brush – the hair!" Hawkes exclaimed.

"There is the DNA sample we need, to see whether the blood is really Amy's. All this long blonde hair must be hers," Danny stated. "I'm done in the bathroom. You need any help here? Else I'd go take all that I've got back to the lab."

"You go on, I'm almost finished myself. I'll take a ride back with Mac," Hawkes let him know.

Danny packed up his kit, took his evidence bags and left the room. Only Hawkes was left now. He stared down at the big pool of blood on the floor. Then he looked at the scribbling on the wall. He was afraid that all their work might come too late and that Amy was already dead. Hawkes felt personally attacked by this killer because he had taken one of their own. He had to sigh. He – and he knew that the rest of the team secretly did as well – had already accepted Amy as part of their team. Now that they knew her interior motifs to come to New York, they could even understand her. Hawkes thought that he might have done just the same. When his girlfriend had been raped all those years ago, he had been blind with revenge and all he could think about back then was how to find the killer. Amy was only five years old when she lost her parents, had to listen to them scream in agony.

Hawkes was determined to find the killer and get Amy out alive – it was the least he and the team could do.

* * *

Don was pacing up and down in front of the security guard's room. Mac was inside to see the footage from the day and night before. He was trying to find Amy on it and hopefully, catch a glimpse of the killer. Don had made him nervous looking over Mac's shoulder all the time, so Mac had spontaneously banned Don from the room. Now he was walking up and down in front of the closed door, waiting for Mac to come back out.

Don just had to find Amy – it would relieve his bad conscience. Mac had suggested that someone would walk Amy to the hotel, but simply because he was angry, Don had said that she would do just fine. And now she was kept somewhere by a psycho killer and she was bleeding.

He could still feel the shock in his bones, could still imagine the bloody words on the wall. He had to close his eyes and take a deep breath because he started to feel dizzy. He couldn't believe that this was happening. Only a few days ago his life had been close to perfect – he had been successful at his job, had had a great relationship with Jess. And now? He felt as if his career was at stake and Jess had broken up with him. All this for Amy.

Don simply had to find her, only to see whether she was really worth all that.

* * *

Back in the darkness, Amy's mood began to absorb the cold and musty surroundings. She was desperate and about to lose all hope. She couldn't imagine the team processing her room; she couldn't imagine them trying to find her. She had her hand pressed on her abdomen, trying to keep the blood inside. But she felt it seeping through her fingers, out of the wound. She felt weaker by the minute and she knew that she couldn't keep this up much longer – no-one could survive bleeding out.

Amy started to feel dizzy, but told herself that she only had a chance to survive when she stayed awake. She blinked and swallowed a couple of times, forcing her weak body to hold on to the last ounces of power she had left.

All of a sudden she thought that she heard voices in the room. She tried to look around as best as she could and when she saw a man and a woman standing in front of her, Amy had to blink away her tears.

Those were no real persons in front of her, mere shadows of what once had been – her mum and dad were standing right next to her. She looked into her mum's face and felt better when she saw the still familiar smile. Her dad wrinkled his nose like he always had done to make the five-year-old Amy laugh. Amy smiled at them.

"Feels good to see you, even though I know it's not a very good sign," she whispered.

"You have to stay strong, darling," her dad replied.

Amy blinked a couple of times. She had often dreamt of her parents, had even sometimes imagined them in the room with her. But never had her dreams or illusions been as real as this. Amy knew it was a bad sign when she started hallucinating – that much she could explain with her rational mind. And yet, she didn't want her parents to leave her alone again. So she clung to her mind's projection and tried to get as much power out of it as she could.

"Dad, I'm dying," she talked to the male 'ghost'.

"Nonsense, you're way too young to die," her mother said.

"Mum, I hate to break it to you, but I'm bleeding like hell and there's nothing I can do to stop it," Amy muttered back.

"Look, baby, we don't have much time, but there is something we need to let you know," her dad started. "There is a whole team of investigators out there trying to find you and believe me, they are good and they will get you out of here."

Amy looked up at him and really hoped that this was true and not just her mind playing tricks on her, telling her what she desperately wanted to hear.

"And there's also a man out there, who is willing to give his heart to you. Give yours back, sweetie pie. He will make you very happy, I just know," her mother said and leaned forward to kiss her daughter on the forehead.

Even though Amy knew that there was no-one to really kiss her, she felt as if she really had been kissed on the forehead. She closed her eyes to enjoy the motherly warmth she had received and when she opened her eyes again, her parents were gone. Amy groaned. Her wound by now really started to hurt and she wasn't sure whether she could really make it. But she had to, for Don and for her parents.

* * *

Don was still pacing the hallway when Mac came out of the room. He was shaking his head at the dark-haired detective, signalling that he unfortunately had not gotten an image of the killer.

"We have her on tape how she comes back to the hotel, but we have no idea how he got her out. Probably through the back door and there is no camera there," Mac informed him.

Don groaned and leaned against the wall, banging his head against it a couple of times.

"Look Don, we'll find her anyhow," Mac tried to calm Don down. He looked at the younger detective, desperation written all over his face. "You're in love with her," he simply stated and confronted Don.

Don looked over to Mac and all he could do was nod. He felt tears rise and had to blink them back. He had a lump in his throat and simply couldn't speak.

"Looks like you two were meant to be. It was supposed to happen, that's why she came to New York. Never interfere with fate, brings bad karma," Mac said.

Don had to smile. Mac patted him on the shoulder and led him down the hall, out of the hotel.

As they were almost at the door, Don stopped and turned to Mac. "If someone loses that much blood, can that person survive?" he asked.

Mac looked at him. "It has happened before, yes. We'll find her and you two will have a future, I promise, Don," he said and hoped that he could give Don a little bit of trust back.

* * *

A little later, the whole team was in the lab, focused on the tasks at hand. Danny was just processing some of the DNA when he saw Lindsay coming out of the elevator. He walked out and greeted her with a kiss.

"What are you doing here?"

"I thought you guys could use another set of hands," she answered.

Danny hugged his wife very closely and whispered in her right ear: "I'm just so happy you're fine. I couldn't live when anything happened to you or Lucy."

Lindsay hugged Danny back and then smiled at him. "You two are my life as well," she said and kissed him.

"Where is Lucy?" Danny then remembered to enquire.

"At your parents'. They were more than willing to take her for as long as we need them to," she informed him.

Danny then led Lindsay into the lab with him and the two of them started processing the DNA together.

* * *

_**I really hope this chapter made up for the long wait. About 3 – 4 chapters left till the end! Stay tuned and click the review button!**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**Thanks so much for the reviews on the last chapter and I'm glad that you kept reading even though I abandoned you for so long.**_

_**Here we go with chapter 16!**_

_**Enjoy, read and don't forget to click the 'review' button at the end!**_

_**Disclaimer**__**: I'm poor – nothing's mine.**_

* * *

Back down in the darkness, Amy was getting weaker and weaker. No matter how hard she pressed her hands on the wound in her stomach, the blood kept coming out of it. Even if it, by now, was coming out less forcefully than before, she couldn't make it stop entirely. She knew that she had already lost a whole lot of blood and she wasn't sure how much longer she could stay awake. The hope she had gotten from her imaginary parents was slowly vanishing because the longer she waited in the cold, the more convinced she got that she was going to die down there. She didn't want to fall asleep because she was secretly hoping that her parents' killer was going to come back for her – either to kill her or to torture her some more. Now that she was in his hands, all she wanted was to finally know who he was and why he had killed her parents all those years ago.

It took all her strength to hold on to life, but her strength was slowly leaving her body.

* * *

The CSIs worked diligently in the lab, everyone working on their own evidence. Hawkes finger prints had revealed nothing; Danny hadn't found any DNA in the washtub of Amy's hotel bathroom. Adam had found male DNA on the notes, but there was no hit in CODIS and so all the team knew by now was that the killer was male – something they had already assumed anyway.

The whole team was utterly frustrated and no-one really knew what to do next. Most of them went over their evidence again, making sure that they hadn't missed anything. Adam, however, sat down at one of the computers in the lab and called up the file on the last murder in New York –the York couple. Just by some curious feeling he thought about looking into the neighbourhood of the couple – it seemed as if it had always played a role that the murdered victims had only recently moved into the respective neighbourhood they were then killed in.

Adam also pulled up the file of the first couple murdered in New York City – Delia and Jack Parker. Just on a hunch, he compared the different neighbours. The only striking resemblance he could find was that there were two Sam's living in the two different neighbourhoods –one Sam Thomas and one Sam Clarke.

Adam opened the internet browser and typed both names into Google. The first hit he got on Sam Thomas was a newspaper article with a picture – taken a day before the murder. He had been the 100th customer of a new supermarket and he had won a car. In the picture, Sam Thomas looked as if he really didn't want his picture taken, but the store manager must have forced him to. No smile was on Sam Thomas' face, even though he had just won a car.

Adam then took a closer look at the Google results for Sam Clarke and he found yet another picture.

"Oh my freakin' God!" Adam shouted out loud. The two men he was staring at on the screen were the same man! Quickly he ran into the adjoining lab and gathered all of the old case files. He rummaged through them, trying to find the one page that listed all of the neighbours – he could find a Sam Something-or-Other in every single neighbourhood.

Adam ran back to the computer lab and hit the print button on the pictures of both, Sam Thomas and Sam Clarke. He had to show this to Mac. Adam was sure that he had now found the case-breaker.

* * *

Adam rushed into the break-room, where Mac, Stella, Hawkes, Danny and Lindsay were just taking a quick coffee break.

"I got him!" Adam yelled as he walked into the room.

Mac, who was holding his cup in his hand, twitched and spilled some over his white shirt. Stella burnt herself on the hot liquid because Adam had taken her so by surprise that she had forgotten to blow the steam away.

"What's up, buddy. Catch some breath and then tell us what's wrong!" Danny tried to calm Adam down. "What are you babbling on about that you have him? Who?"

"The killer!" Adam called out.

Mac immediately put his cup down and walked over to Adam. He took the pieces of paper out of Adam's hand and looked at them. His forehead was wrinkled as he saw the two identical men and the list Adam had compiled of the neighbours called 'Sam'. Mac, being the clever fox that he was, immediately knew what was up.

"Was there a Sam living in Amy's neighbourhood as well?" He inquired.

"There was indeed, boss. Samuel Johnson, Sam for short. He was 35 at the time, so logically he must be 55 now," Adam informed them.

"Sam Johnson. Do we know where he lives?"

"I don't know," Adam had to admit. "I came here as soon as I found all this. I haven't checked any further."

"Then let's find the bastard," Stella said and left the lab, followed closely by everyone else.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the confinement, Amy struggled to keep her eyes open. She knew she was not allowed to close them because she wasn't sure she'd ever wake up again. But she by now felt so dizzy and nauseous that it was hard for her to stay awake. There were moments when she thought that a little bit of sleep might be all she needed to feel a little stronger again. She knew that she had lost so much blood now, it would be hard for her to survive this. Slowly, her eyelids fell down and no matter how hard Amy fought, her mind slipped away into unconsciousness.

* * *

The team had checked the last known address of Sam Johnson in their database and Stella and Danny were now standing in front of the building. It was a rotten and old apartment building and most of the apartments seemed to be empty. The old tenants must have fled the place in order to live somewhere nicer. The neighbourhood smelled poorly and Danny wrinkled his nose.

"How did you manage to convince Don not to join us?" he wanted to know from Stella.

"Mac didn't tell him about this. He thought it was better not to let him know just yet. Amy might not be here and Mac didn't want to get Don's hopes up," she replied.

"You guys think that's fair?" Danny doubted his superiors' actions.

"I don't think it's fair, but Mac's the boss, Danny," Stella explained.

"Fair enough," Danny had to concede.

They turned around as they heard several cars arriving and stopping in front of the building. The rest of the team got out, all wearing their vests and having their guns in hand. Three squad cars arrived as well, as protection for the members of the CSI.

"Linds, didn't I tell you to stay in the lab!" Danny said to his wife.

"You think I could do that? Looks like you don't know me that well, hubby," she winked.

Danny shook his head – he knew that there was no arguing with his stubborn wife.

"Alright everyone: Sheldon – we will go into the basement and check out the first floor apartments as well. Stella, you take Danny and some officers to check the second floor. And you, Lindsay and Adam, you'll secure the top floor. Make sure all the apartments are empty before you go into 307 and start processing," Mac ordered.

The rest of the team nodded and they all went inside. Hawkes and Mac couldn't find anything in either basement or first floor and Stella and Danny's search of the second floor was without success, too. Adam and Lindsay hadn't found anything on the third floor and had started processing the apartment 307.

There was no furniture in the apartment anymore and by looking at all the dust that had gathered on the floor, it had been empty for quite a while. The two of them were already starting to get frustrated that this was a dead end again, when Adam tapped Lindsay on the shoulder and pointed towards some footprints on the dusty floor.

"Those are recent," Lindsay remarked. "I'd guess only a couple of days old. No new dust has settled on them. Good catch, Adam."

"You see – over there by the window – the little bit of dirt on the floor, in one of the footprints? Maybe that's a winner!" he shouted out in excitement.

Lindsay took her camera out of her kit and started taking pictures of the apartment and the footprints. Adam was already down on his knees to gather up the dirt that was on the floor. When he had it in a little evidence glass, he took a closer look at it and smiled – he felt as if they had finally found the one piece of evidence they needed.

"Adam!" Lindsay called out from the other corner of the room.

Adam walked over to where she was standing, holding a piece of paper in her hand. "What do you have?" he asked.

"A leaflet from a pizza company. It's got no dust on it, so it can't have been here long. I'll bag it and take a closer look at it in the lab." Lindsay got up and looked out of the window. "Adam, isn't that Amy's hotel?" she said, pointing towards the backside of a building on the other side of the street.

Adam walked over to her and looked out of the window. "Oh my God, it is! How could we have missed that?" he wondered.

"You remember one of the notes that indicated he was watching her?" Lindsay asked him.

"You mean the note that says she had sex with a hot detective, which we believe was Flack?"

"Exactly that one. You think he has been here in the last couple of days and watched her from here?" she asked.

"But how? No-one's eyesight is that perfect," Adam gave to think.

"Telescope?" Lindsay guessed and bent down to look for evidence of a telescope on the floor. And exactly in front of the window, she found some voids on the dusty floor, indicating that something must have been standing there, only recently. She pointed this out to Adam and took pictures of it.

"So he definitely has been in here, some time in the last couple of days. So maybe this dirt and this leaflet will finally take us a step closer to him," Adam said.

* * *

"You found the killer and didn't call me? Are you out of your mind?" Don started raving as soon as Mac got back into his office. He didn't even give the CSI the chance to sit back down at his desk, but cut off his way and positioned himself in front of him.

"Don, we didn't find him. All we found was some evidence that _might _lead us to Amy. If there's anything you need to know, you'll be the first I'm going to call," Mac assured Don.

"Don't you think it's unfair that I get to know this by listening to the police radio? Come on, Mac!" Flack groaned.

"Maybe there would have been a better way of handling this," Mac admitted. "As soon as I know something, _anything_, new, I'll call you, I promise."

"I bloody hope so," Don retorted and left Mac's office. He had never in his life felt so helpless.

He could feel it in his guts that Amy was taking her last breaths, wherever she was.

* * *

_**Next chapter will be the penultimate chapter – yes, that's right, only two left till the end.**_

_**Will the team finally find Amy? And if they do, will they come in time? Will she pull through? And will she and Don really have a future after all that has happened?**_

_**If you want to find the answers to all of those questions, stay tuned and don't miss the last chapters of my story!**_

_**And now, click the review button and let me know what you thought about this chapter! And what do you think might happen in the last two?**_

_**Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing, should you click the button!**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Thank you so much for reading and reviewing my story – this makes me so happy and proud that there are actually people out there liking this!**_

_**Keep the reviews coming, even when this is the penultimate chapter!**_

_**Disclaimer**__**: Still, nothing's mine.**_

* * *

Back in the lab, Adam and Lindsay were busy processing their evidence.

Lindsay had found fingerprints on the pizza company leaflet, and when she compared them to those found in Amy's hotel room, they were a match. But because the prints were neither in CODIS nor in APHIS, those results did not bring Lindsay very far. All she was able to conclude from this was that whoever had handled the leaflet had also been in Amy's room. This person was more than likely the serial killer the team was looking for – the man who kept Amy hidden somewhere – but this very vague conclusion would never stand up before a jury in court. Lindsay sincerely hoped that Adam was more successful in the lab next door.

Adam shook the little glass vial where the dirt was kept inside and he saw the little pieces tumbling around in the glass. He really hoped that this would be a winner and if Adam could trust his gut feeling, then this little bit of dirt was going to bring them very far. He examined it under the microscope, but after he couldn't find anything abnormal with his bare eyes, he tried his luck in the MassSpec.

Adam was just staring at the computer screen, eagerly awaiting a result, when Stella and Lindsay walked in behind him.

"It's not going to work any faster by staring at it, you know?" Stella teased. "I've tried that various times before and I always failed."

Adam turned around and smiled at the women. And even though they all knew that staring at the computer screen was not going to help and make it work any faster, they both joined Adam. The three of them prayed that for once they would be lucky and walk away with a result in their hands. Intuitively, they had all closed their eyes in prayer, but as soon as the printer beeped at them, they all opened them again. Stella was the quickest and first to grab the single sheet of paper that the printer had thrown out and she read aloud:

"The compounds in the soil suggest remnants of plaster, cement, glue and tapestry, all covered in several layers of dust."

"What does that give us?" Adam wondered out-loud.

"To me, that screams abandoned tapestry company building or something like that," Lindsay pointed out.

"I agree, Linds," Stella said and after a moment of reflection and consideration, she added: "Maybe this is where your pizza leaflet comes into play!"

"Oh my God, Stella, you're a genius!" Adam cried out and left the lab immediately to get the leaflet from the other room.

He met Stella and Lindsay back in the computer lab – they were already waiting for him at one of the computer terminals. Quickly, Adam looked up the address of the pizza company on the leaflet and typed it into the computer. He conjured up a map and looked for abandoned warehouses or factories in the vicinity. After five minutes of magnetized staring at the screen, Lindsay shouted out _"There!" _and pointed with her finger to one of the dots on the screen.

"Jackson's Tapestries. Was closed in 1991 and has been empty ever since," Adam read out.

"Let's tell Mac that we think we know where Amy is," Stella ordered and left the lab, followed closely by Adam and Lindsay.

* * *

In the meantime, Flack was downstairs in the precinct. He had backed out of the bustle of lab and police department and had settled down in the break room with a cup of horrible coffee. He felt so nervous inside that he thought he might be about to explode. He knew that there was nothing he could do and waiting for the CSIs inside the lab had been impossible. He had seen them running from lab to lab, always busy studying papers, but no-one had actually been able to tell him anything. All he had ever heard was that he just had to be patient and that they would find Amy. Every single one of them had promised.

Don snuffled – he couldn't buy anything with just a promise. He was a goddamn cop and he needed something solid in his hands. He had never been able to understand how a little bit of dirt was going to be the case breaker. For him it all worked through meticulous police work, interrogating suspects and following clues – in short, Don was simply old-school.

He had just put his head down between his hands and groaned, when Jessica entered the break room. Her first intuition was to leave again immediately without Don seeing her – she wasn't too keen on talking to him, she simply didn't know what to say. But as she saw him sitting like that, in utter desperation and frustration, she simply couldn't leave him alone. They might have had their difficulties in the past few days and their relationship might be over, but she still saw him as a close friend. She cleared her throat.

"I heard they still don't have a clue where Amy is," she said and caught Don's attention.

"I know. They keep on telling me that they are working on it," he shared.

"That's their standard line, isn't it?" Jess giggled and conjured up a little smile on Don's lips. "May I?" she asked and pointed towards the chair next to Don's.

"Sure, I'd love that," Don answered and smiled at Jess as she sat down. "Look Jess…" he started.

"Don't," Jess dismissed it.

"Please, let me get this out. I might not be brave enough some other time," Don pleaded.

Jess looked into Don's eyes and saw how dearly he wanted to get out whatever was on his chest. And so she nodded at him and gave him permission.

"I am _so_ sorry, Jess, I really am. I never meant for things to turn out this way," he apologized.

"You know what, I can even believe that," was all she said, sadness in her voice.

"I _never_ meant for this to happen. I was so happy with you…"

"But obviously not happy enough," she concluded.

"I don't know, to be honest. I know I must be the world's greatest jerk for you right now, and believe me, I certainly feel like one," Don admitted.

Jess looked up at him and could see that he was sincerely sorry and she felt a little bit of her anger slip away. "I do believe you and I'm not even that mad at you. It's just… hard to describe, you know?" she said.

"I know what you mean. This whole situation is so dodgy, I have no idea what to make of it," Don acknowledged.

"Do you have feelings for her?" Jess asked.

After a split second of thinking, Don replied: "I think I do."

"Then I guess it's all very easy, at least in my book. Look Don, we had fun times together, but it seems we were not meant to be, simply not cut out for each other. Maybe Amy is now _the one _for you. And there is only one way to find out – you will have to try," she said.

"Have I ever told you what a big-hearted and wonderful person you are?" Don wanted to know.

"You just did," Jess smiled. "No hard feelings between us, alright? We had a good time, but that's at an end now. From now on, we'll just be partners and friends," she offered and gave her hand to Don for shaking it.

He readily took it and smiled at her – he was happy that she would not hate him for the rest of her life. Just as he was about to say something, his cell phone went off and it was Mac calling. Don answered immediately.

"Flack?"

"Don, it's Mac. We think we know where she is. Up for a ride?"

A huge and wide grin spread over Don's face and Jess immediately concluded that those must be good news concerning Amy. If she hadn't known that it was over between her and Flack, this wide smile would have now been her answer.

Don hung up the phone and got up instantly. "They know where she is. Want to join us?"

"No, I've got my own case to work on," Jess lied. Even though she and Don had talked things out, she didn't want to be around when those two celebrated their happy reunion – she simply wasn't sure her fragile heart could take that just yet.

"Wish me luck," was the last thing Don said before he left the break room and out of the goodness of her heart, Jessica did.

* * *

If this story was now part of a TV show, the camera would be slowly zooming in on the lifeless body of Amélie Gerrard – her shirt blood-soaked and her skin cold and pale. She was still lying on the floor in the same spot she had been dumped a day before and she wasn't moving. Her breath was shallow and there was not much life left in her.

To her right, there was a man standing. He was wearing a black shirt and black trousers, short black hair. He was in his mid-fifties. In his right hand he was holding a knife and on his face he had a maniac grin.

* * *

Five squad cars and two black SUVs pulled up in front of the old tapestry company building. The CSIs got out of the SUVs, all wearing their vests, guns ready to be picked out of the holsters. Flack was already standing in front of the building, briefing the rest of the police officers.

"I want you all to be careful – we do not know what might be awaiting us inside. We also do not know whether the suspect has a gun or not, so be prepared. Your top priority will be to catch the killer. But also, look out for Detective Scott. If this is the right building, she must be inside and she is probably bleeding. So bring her out immediately and take her to the ambulance, which will be arriving here in 2 minutes. If you have any other question, ask now!"

He looked at the determined faces of his officers – they were all trained in close combat and tricky situations. They all knew how to do their jobs and Flack knew that this was the best team for apprehending the killer and getting Amy out safely.

Before he gave orders to storm the building, Flack walked over to Mac for one last check with the CSI.

"You all ready? Then we'll go in," Don said.

"We are all ready," Mac answered after a quick look at his team. When all of them nodded, he gave Flack the OK.

"Then let's do this!" he shouted out and police officers as well as CSIs started to storm and secure the building from all sides.

"Flack!" Mac called him back.

"What?" Flack wanted to know, visibly annoyed.

"Be careful yourself. Don't risk the future you and Amy could have together," Mac advised.

Flack stood there and looked at his fatherly friend. "Thanks," he said, then turned around and ran into the building.

Police officers were standing outside the building, in front of every door and inside they were walking through long and dark hallways, into dark rooms and around dark corners. No-one had found Amy as of yet, but Mac was getting closer when he decided to check out the basement.

Just as he was walking down the stairs, he heard a noise coming from that direction. Flack was coming down the steps behind him and Mac turned around, shushing at him. Both were very silent and careful and slowly made their way down. Mac covered the right and Flack the left side of the hallway. There were only two rooms, one on each end of the corridor. Flack tried his luck at the door on his corridor, but it was closed. He then walked over to Mac and the two of them listened at the one remaining door. They could both hear a voice inside – it was a man talking.

Flack and Mac gestured to each other and then they stormed inside, guns drawn and ready to fire at will. A man was kneeling over the lifeless body of a woman and he had a knife in his hand.

"Freeze!" Flack screamed.

The man turned around and dropped the knife. At first glance, there was nothing extraordinary about him – he was just a man in his mid-fifties with receding black hair, a little chummy on the chins. He looked like the most innocent man on earth, but all the persons in the room knew that he wasn't.

While Flack still had his gun pointed at the man, Mac walked over to cuff him.

"I knew you'd get me one day. It was my mistake to take _her_, right?" the man said and turned around to Amy on the floor. "But look at her –she is so beautiful, how could I resist?" he added and than gave himself up to Mac.

Flack put his gun away and then immediately rushed over to Amy. Her skin was sweaty and cold and when Flack checked for a pulse, he could only feel a very faint one. He immediately picked her up and rushed with her outside. Mac followed with the killer, talking into his radio set that the killer had been caught and Amy found.

They both came outside where the rest of the team was already waiting for them. Flack rushed Amy to the ambulance and as soon as they were inside, the doors were closed and Amy was taken to the hospital.

Flack put her down on the stretcher and immediately, the two emergency doctors took care of her. Flack's vest and shirt were by now soaked in blood and he was holding Amy's hand. After the doctors had given her the first blood transfusion and injection, Flack leaned over and whispered in her ear:

"You have to pull through, for us."

Slowly, Amy opened her eyes and looked at him, a little smile on her face.

"Don," she whispered, taking all her last power to utter his name.

Don pressed Amy's hand, but she had already closed her eyes again. As if in slow-motion, her hand sunk out of Don's embrace and she flatlined.

* * *

**You all**** love a good cliffhanger, don't you? Don't miss the last chapter of my story, to be updated the next couple of days!**

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**And now, click the little green button and leave me a review on the penultimate chapter!**


	18. Chapter 18

_**Hello reader – this is the very last chapter of this story. **__**I hope I will conclude it to your satisfaction!**_

_**At this point I would love to thank all readers, reviewers and 'alerters' from the bottom of my heart. This has been my first fic and I was truly nervous when publishing it. But you have all been so great about this and so supportive – it's thanks to you that I will keep on writing! Thank you so very much!!!!**_

_**Do me the honour of one final review – let me know what you thought of the story as a whole! Satisfied or deeply disturbed? Love it or hate it? Just fling it all at me – I can take it! And I would feel twice as honoured if some of you lurkers would give me a review as well!!!**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** Even now, at the end, I don't own anything related to CBS or CSI:NY. Only Amy is mine.**_

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* * *

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It had been 72 hours since Amy had closed her eyes. The paramedics had been able to revive her heart on the spot, but she hadn't woken up since. The doctors would not give out any details to the CSIs or to Flack because they were no immediate family. But Hawkes had managed to get hold of the chart and interpreted it for the rest of the team.

Amy's basic condition at the moment was stable, but the doctors feared that she might have suffered from severe brain damage due to the considerable amount of blood she had lost, the undetermined amount of time she had spent unconscious in the basement and the fact that her heart had simply given up in the ambulance. They wouldn't know for sure how Amy was doing until she finally woke up.

Don was sitting at her bed, holding her hand. He had left the hospital a couple of times over the last three days, always going back to prison to finally get Samuel Thomas to talk. But the serial killer had plainly refused – saying that he wanted to wait for Amy to wake up. One day he had said that before he gave up his story, he had to know how many victims he now had to answer for, whether it would include Amy or not. This had made Don so angry that he couldn't bear to look at him again and so he had given the case over to a fellow detective. All Don cared about now was for Amy to wake up and be alright.

"How is she doing?" Tom asked as he came into the room, two cups of steaming coffee in his hand, one of which he handed over to Don. Tom had arrived only a day after Amy had been submitted to the hospital – Stella had found his number in Amy's purse, he was the one she wanted to be called in cases of medical emergencies. For her, Tom and his parents were the closest she had to a real family.

"She's still not awake," Don now answered, desperation in his voice. Over the last few days, he had talked to Amy, pleaded, prayed. But she still was not with him and he no longer knew what to do.

"She'll pull through this. Pumpkin is a fighter," Tom assured him, gently touching the detective's shoulder.

"Tell me, where did she get the name Pumpkin from?" Don wanted to know, desperately trying to get his thoughts away from the lifeless body in the hospital bed, surrounded by machines and tubes.

"That's a funny story," Tom smiled. "One year at Halloween, my dad carved a pumpkin for us kids. My parents were never big on the whole trick-and-treat thing, but little Amy batted her eyelashes at my dad till he caved and bought one. He had carved it, put a candle inside, lit the candle and switched off the light. Amy had closed her eyes, she was so eager to see the pumpkin face. When dad told her to open her eyes and she saw the pumpkin, she screamed!"

"She screamed? But why?" Don asked.

"Apparently dad had made one hell of a scary pumpkin and Amy was terrified by the face! She screamed for so long, till dad took the pumpkin out. Was the last and only year we had one," Tom concluded.

Don smiled. "I can't even imagine her being afraid of anything," he shared. "There's so much I don't know about her. I just want to have the chance to get to know her better, you know?"

"I know and believe me, you will," Tom reassured him. "She's been trough a lot, this is just a little drawback on the way."

Don didn't say anything after this, he just kept on holding Amy's hand, looking at her and telling her that she had to wake up.

* * *

"Ok, Thomas, this is it. You will tell me your story _now_!" Mac slammed his fists onto the little table in the interrogation room. He was losing his patience with this man.

But Samuel Thomas just grinned at Mac, not opening his mouth to speak.

"Ok, this is how it's going to be. Because the first couple you murdered lived in North Carolina, you will simply be transferred back to Raleigh. And in case you didn't know, they still have the death penalty there." Mac looked down on Thomas, trying to coax some kind of confession out of him. They did not need him to confess, they had his fingerprints and DNA on file now and that was enough to bring him behind bars for life. All Mac wanted was to know _why _this man had done all of those cruel deeds, because no matter how hard Mac tried to wrap his head around all of these murders, he simply couldn't find a solid motif.

"Is she awake yet?" Samuel Thomas finally asked. He had a husky voice, a little darkened like the voice of a long-term smoker. Mac felt a sense of danger in his voice and it sent a shiver down his spine.

"Why is Amy so important to you?" Mac asked.

"Because I need to know whether she will finally be my masterpiece," was all the answer Mac got before Samuel Thomas fell silent again.

* * *

It was long after midnight and Don had fallen asleep in the chair next to Amy's bed, still not letting go of her hand. Over and over again, he was dreaming of finding the lifeless body of Amy down in the basement of the abandoned factory. He could not get the picture of her blood-soaked body out of his head and he was sure that it was going to haunt him for a very long time. The picture had already found its way into his dreams.

He only slept lightly, as might be expected from someone hunched in a chair next to a hospital bed. He suddenly woke up, when he felt someone pull at his hand. It took him a couple of seconds to properly open his eyes and find out what it was that had woken him up.

He got up and looked over to Amy, whose eyes were open, looking around the room, trying to find out what had happened to her and where she was.

Don immediately woke up Tom, who was seated in the other chair in the corner of the room and then he rushed out to get the nurse and doctor. Both got in a couple of minutes later, finding Amy in her bed, trying to get the tube out of her mouth. Tom was standing next to her, hindering her from hurting herself. The doctor went over and removed the tube from her mouth and the first word that Amy muttered was 'water'. The nurse gave her a little glass filled with water, so that Amy could get rid of her dry mouth and throat.

"Where am I?" she then asked, looking at doctor, nurse, Tom and finally Don.

"You're in the hospital, pumpkin," Tom answered, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Oh right, I got stabbed and then left to die, I believe," she stated matter-of-factly. "But hey, looks as if I pulled through," she then concluded and shifted awkwardly around in her bed. "I feel as if I've been lying flat on the back for days!" she shouted out.

"Well, you have," Don said and stepped closer to the bed.

"For how long have I been out?" she wanted to know.

"3 days," Don told her.

"Blimey, for that long?" she wondered. "But I am completely alright. Right, doctor?" she asked and turned towards the doctor.

"As far as I can tell right now, you are more than fine," he said, to everyone's alleviation.

Don took a deep breath and sat down in the corner chair that Tom had occupied before. He felt as if all the tension of the last week was finally yielding and he realized that he had never felt as tired and exhausted before.

"Don?" he heard Amy's still very feeble voice call for him. He immediately got back up and walked over to her side, where Tom had made space for him.

"Yes?" he asked and took Amy's hand again.

"I'm sorry," she said and tears rolled down her cheeks.

Don had expected a lot of things to happen once Amy was awake again, but he had never thought that she would start to cry. But then he realized that he hadn't been the only one going through a lot this past week. For Amy, the tension of about 20 years was fading and he thought she must be feeling terribly agitated inside.

"No need to apologize for anything, alright?" he said to her, gently stroking her hair and then her cheek.

"But you look as if you've been to hell and back – and somehow I'm guessing that was my fault," she cried.

"It's not your fault, don't even think something like that. Right now, I'm just so happy that you're ok," Don said, his voice stifled with tears that had started to roll down his cheeks. He bent down to Amy and lightly kissed her on the lips. "It's all going to be ok from now on," he said and looked into her eyes.

"Thank you," Amy whispered and pressed his hand, too weak to do any more than that. But it was enough for Don to know that they would finally have a future together.

* * *

About another three days later, Don walked into the interrogation room with Mac. Samuel Thomas was sitting at the little table again. He looked broken. Mac had been the one to bring the news that Amy had pulled through and was now stronger than ever. After that, Thomas had refused food and drink and had been determined to die. His last masterpiece – killing Amélie Gerrard – had failed and he was ready to give up.

"Want to let us know now what made you do it?" was Don's simple question.

"You'd laugh at me," Samuel Thomas answered.

"Try us," Mac challenged him.

"I killed Amy's parents because they bought the house from right under my nose," he said and looked down onto the table.

"What?" Don had to dig deeper because he could not believe that this had been Thomas's motif for killing an innocent couple and robbing a sweet little girl of her parents.

"I was in love, can you imagine that? Her name was Rose, sweet loving and gentle Rose. She had set me an ultimatum – buy me a house and I will marry you," Thomas started his full story. "I did go and wanted to buy the house – but I was told it was already gone. I went to see Rose and tell her, but she didn't want any excuses. He said she'd leave me and that she had wasted her time with me. Can you believe that?"

Don and Mac just stared at Thomas, nodding at him, encouraging him to go on.

"I went over to their house one night and tried to make them sell the house to me. They refused. I kept on coming back and as time went on, I might have gotten a little angry and started to threaten them. But I just wanted their house and my Rose back!" Thomas broke down and started to cry.

Mac and Don exchanged looks, but neither one really knew what to say.

"One night, I must have snapped," Thomas continued. "I hadn't slept for days and I was so desperate and heart-broken. I just took my pocket-knife and killed them. I thought that then I might get the house and my Rose back. But you know what she said? She didn't want me anymore and would get married to someone else." Thomas fell silent.

"Why all of the other couples over the years?" Mac finally asked.

"Why should they be allowed to stay happy in their new house when my life was so miserable?" was Thomas's answer. He looked up at Don and Mac and they knew that for now and maybe forever, this was all they would get out of him.

Don signalled for one of the police officers to take Thomas away. He then sat down on the corner of the table and faced Mac.

"Tell me, how do I explain to Amy that her life has been destroyed by a complete whacko, with the most banal and trivial motif ever?" he wanted to know.

"She already knows," was the answer that came from the interrogation room door. Neither Mac nor Flack had heard it open, but as they now turned around, they saw Amy standing in the doorframe.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Don wanted to know and rushed over to steady the still faint Amy. He led her to one of the chairs and with a groan, she sat down. The big stab wound she had gotten over 6 days ago still hurt.

"I left the hospital, came here and listening in the room next door," she meekly said.

"You did what? You left by your own free will, I guess. No doctor would release you, that much is certain," Don lamented.

By now, Mac had silently left the room, leaving those two lovers to quarrel alone.

"Don't you understand that I had to hear this?" Amy asked Don.

He could understand her, but he hated seeing her in pain. "I can, that's the problem. Because I can, I can hardly be angry at you for being as stupid as to leave the hospital when you're still hurting," he confessed.

Amy took his hand and caressed it lightly. "Sorry that I always cause so much trouble. I'll be out of the city as soon as I can move," she let him know.

"What are you talking about now?" Don panicked.

"Well, after all that I did, I thought you would be glad if I'd just leave you alone," she explained.

"You are a complete nut job. Don't you understand that your leaving would make me unhappy?" Don kneeled down in front of Amy and took her face into his hands. "I want us to have a future together," he said.

Amy felt so touched and so full of love for this man that her breast swelled and tears rolled down her cheeks. "But I am a total mess, Donald Flack Jr. I have no job and my licence as a CSI has been revoked. I have no idea what to do with myself or my future. I have no money and no place to stay and…"

Don put his fingers over her mouth and made Amy stop her diatribe. "We'll figure it all out together. From now on, there is no 'me' anymore, ok? It will always be 'us'," Don said and got up to kiss Amy's lips tenderly.

After the kiss, Amy looked up at Don and whispered: "I love you, Don Flack."

Don looked down at Amy and realized that she really was _'the one'_ Jess had talked about some days ago. In that instant, he knew that they would be able to conquer the world with their love and that they would have the brightest future together that mankind had ever seen. He couldn't control his emotions and locked lips with Amy as passionately as he had never done before with a woman and would never again do with anyone but her.

"I love you, too, Amy. Always and forever."

_**The End.**_


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